A Mother's Love
by bigbew
Summary: Short story set in the future war with John, Cameron and Amy as the primary characters. Please read my other stories before this one otherwise it won't make sense.
1. Prologue

**Hi guys,**

**I spoil you really. Not only a chapter released yesterday but a brand new story today!**

**This is a mini story set in the 'verse of my other stories. I highly recommend you read 'Just Something I Should Do' and 'I Wouldn't Be Worth Much If I Couldn't Feel'. If you don't, don't blame me for this story not making sense!**

**This is set in 2033 and it is in the timeline before Amy is sent back.**

**I hope you enjoy this!**

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"I don't know Cameron…I mean, it's a big step"

"But you always said you wanted to do this"

John and Cameron lay on their pretty modest but still sizeable bunk. Not everyone in the resistance was afforded the luxury of a double bed, but when it comes to the General in command and his wife, every available luxury was afforded to them. They lay on their sides facing each other about a foot apart. John's hand rested casually on Cameron's hip while she traced small patterns on his shirt with hers.

The effects of time were now starting to be noticeable on John. Gone were his boyish good looks, replaced by a battle hardened and tough exterior. His slowly greying hair made him look overall very distinguished and handsome. Cameron on the other hand was still capable of looking seventeen when she wanted to. However the tough life of fighting against Skynet for the last twenty two years and their daily tasks made it tricky to look as pristine as she wanted to.

"Yeah but, we're in a war here Cameron. We have more important things to worry about right now. Maybe after the war we'll do it"

"But we don't know how long that will be. You shouldn't deprive yourself of something you want"

"I know, I know…"

"Is it me?" Cameron asked with a slight quiver of her lip.

"…You think I'm not capable of this don't you? You think that just because I'm a machine that I can't do this"

She started to roll away from him to leave the bed, he reached out and took hold of her hand to stop her. He brought it back to his chest and placed it over his heart.

"Cameron, don't be ridiculous. I love you. This has nothing to do with you being a machine. Nothing does. I love you for you, and I'd choose you over a human woman every time…you know that"

"But this is different isn't it. You're still concerned about my nature" she sniffled slightly while gripping his shirt.

"Not at all. I'm just worried about this whole situation. We, we can't do this in wartime. It's dangerous…it's not fair to everyone involved, not just us"

He felt his determination to say no slipping away from him. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't refuse Cameron when she had her puppy dog expression on.

"John, the decision is yours"

He sighed and looked at the face of his wife. She still held that innocent curiosity that made him fall in love with her all those years ago. He reached out and tucked a few errant strands of hair behind her ear. She leaned in to his touch, as always bringing a smile to his face.

"Cameron…do you want this? Don't think about what I want. Do you want to do this?"

She looked down at the gap in between them and considered her choice for a long few seconds. Her eyes flitted around a little as her CPU weighed up all the available data on the subject. Finally her eyes returned to his and she leaned over carefully and pulled him by his collar towards her and locked him in a passionate kiss. She tugged him so hard that it almost cut off the airflow. After a long few seconds and John starting to gasp for air, she released him and smiled. While John caught his breath and loosened his collar, she continued to smile and looked down in between them again.

"Well…" John coughed a little "…do you?"

"Yes John, I do…I really do"

"I'm so glad you said that…because I want to do this too"

That declaration brought a smile to both their faces and they slowly moved towards each other. Their lips met as they kissed each other lovingly and with the familiarity that twenty four years of being together and nineteen years of marriage brings. Just as the kiss started to heat up, a small noise from in between them on the bed drew their attention away from each other. They both looked down at the source of the noise and smiled.

John looked back up at his wife.

"I love you Cameron Connor"

"I love you too John Connor"

"And we both love you too…Abigail Connor"

As if on cue at hearing her name, the tiny baby girl laying between the couple woke up fully and screamed at the top of her little lungs. She was no more than a week old and appeared to be a little malnourished, but you'd never know it from the sheer volume of her cries.

John very gingerly picked her up and gently rocked her back and forth, trying to soothe his hungry baby. She continued to scream however and John was somewhat in a flummox as what to do.

"Here, you take her. I'll go find some milk and a bottle from somewhere"

He held her out and carefully placed her in Cameron's waiting arms. Both John and Cameron watched, astonished, as Abigail quieted down almost immediately as soon as she was placed in Cameron's strong arms. She blinked and looked up at her new mother.

"Huh, I guess she feels safe with you…" John laid his hand on top of her head and kissed Cameron on the cheek "…I'll be back soon"

With that, John left the room and closed the door behind him with a loud scrape, making abigail fidget a little. Cameron tuned her audio receptors and picked up the sound of several soldiers hurriedly moving around outside with several of them muttering questions about milk and bottles.

She very gently shifted her adopted daughter in to her left arm and used her right index finger to pull the white blanket she was swaddled up in down from her face.

"Hello. I'm Cameron…I'm your new mommy. It's nice to meet you Abigail"

She grazed abigail's cheek with the back of her finger and smiled when she gurgled in reply. She stood up from the bed and paced around the room, gently rocking her baby. John re-entered a moment later with several soldiers following behind him. He passed a bottle of warm milk to Cameron before doubling over with his hands on his knees and wheezing slightly. He wasn't as young as he used to be and that frantic search had taken it out of him.

When he looked up again, he saw Cameron holding the bottle to Abigail's mouth. He stood back up and watched his adopted daughter softly suckling on the bottle. A small commotion from the crowd tore his gaze away. When he looked over, he saw Amy barging her way through the crowd unceremoniously. The liquid metal machine always looked bright and sunny and usually wore a pretty dress in contrast to their dark surroundings. Today was no exception as she stood at the front of the whispering and gawking crowd of soldiers.

John leaned over and whispered in Cameron's ear and she nodded in reply. She passed Abigail over in to John's arm and he gripped the bottle in his other, earning himself a slight whimper of disapproval from her. He walked over to his waiting men and knelt down so that both they and Amy could see.

"Everybody, I'd like you all to meet Abigail Connor… my daughter"

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**I know this prologue may not be to everyone's taste, but I want to write and finish this story before I start work on part 3 of my main story.**

**Please stick with it. There will be drama, action and crazy Jameron loving coming up in this story. Surely there's something in there for every TSCC fan!**


	2. Chapter 1 Abigail

**Hi guys and gals!**

**Thanks to reviewers kaotic2, m1919, Dragon_Seraphin, XxDeathStarxX, macgamer, olischulu, morded, fullhans1, Metal4lifex, The1Russter, jojobevco, Steel_Dragon_64, uncommoner, Nyrki and gypsy 069.

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News rapidly spread through the base of the latest addition to the Connor family. The celebrations had moved out of their rather cramped quarters and in to the mess hall. Cameron held on to a sleeping Abigail proudly while most of the women on the base gathered around her and cooed about how beautiful she was. John meanwhile was starting to tire of shaking hands with random soldiers.

He reached one soldier in particular, a Private first class Jessop and gladly shook his hand, much to the surprise of the young man.

"Uh, congratulations sir"

"Thank you Jessop"

Frank Jessop's eyes widened at the fact that the great General John Connor knew his name.

"You uh, you know my name?"

"Well sure I do son, Amy talks about you all the time. She goes out on patrol with you right?"

The young man visibly blushed.

"Yes sir, I guess we've just sort of been made battle buddies"

John chuckled a little.

"So how did that happen?"

"I don't know really sir…" Jessop looked back over his shoulder momentarily "…Sir, I'm kind of worried about her. Do you think you could have a word?"

John laughed a little harder and slapped the young soldier on the shoulder. He was actually a little touched that this young man cared for Amy as much as he did. After all she was still a machine, a creation of Skynet, no matter how advanced and human she appeared.

"Yeah, sure thing son"

He gave Jessop one last pat on his shoulder before starting his search for Amy. It didn't take long to find her. She was sitting in the corner of the room at one of the mess tables with her elbows propped on her knees and her chin resting on her hands. She looked as if she was sulking.

As John made a move to go talk to her, he was intercepted by several high ranking officers from another base. Apparently word had spread beyond just his own compound. As he was forced to glad hand them, he saw Cameron approaching out of the corner of his eye.

"Excuse me gentlemen. I'll be with you in a moment"

He stepped over to Cameron's side and smiled at the sight of his wife and his sleeping daughter bundled up a a soft white blanket. He placed his hand on top of Abigail's head and kissed Cameron's cheek. He hovered his lips nearby and whispered in her ear.

"I've gotten stuck with these guys. Could you go talk to Amy? I think she's feeling a little down"

She nodded and slowly passed Abigail over to John, being very careful not to wake her. When she was safely nestled in his arms, Cameron planted a kiss on his cheek just as he had done to her a moment ago.

"You're a good man John Connor, and I love you for it"

"I love you too Princess" he said to her back as he watched her walk away with a slightly lecherous grin on his face.

Cameron walked over towards Amy with a smirk on her face knowing that she'd just ditched John with all those dignitaries he pretended to like. She made her way through the crowded mess hall until she reached her little friend.

_Wow, she does look miserable._

She primly perched herself on the vacant seat next to Amy and studied her for a moment. She seemed to be staring off in to space. Cameron followed the eye line of her gaze and found it directed squarely at John and, more likely given the circumstances, Abigail.

_Ooooh, right._

"What do you want Cameron?"

Cameron noted that she failed to refer to her with her usual nickname of 'Cammy'.

"You seem upset" she observed and Amy shrugged.

"I'm just a little distracted"

Cameron tilted her head and made an assumption.

"Is this because of Abigail?"

Amy just shrugged again.

"Something's bothering you"

Amy turned and looked at Cameron directly, almost as if looking right through her.

"Where did she come from?"

* * *

"Connor, check this out" a voice crackled in Cameron's headset. She instantly recognised the voice as Corporal Lee.

"What is it Corporal?"

"Down there ma'am…" he pointed to a rising plume of smoke down in the small valley below them "…is that bunker twenty two?"

Cameron made her way to the ridge where Lee was positioned and performed a quick scan of where he was pointing. She determined the corporal was correct.

"It is" Cameron raised a fist up by her ear and extended her index finger. She rotated it round as the signal for her squad to regroup at her position.

The four other men in her squad rose from their positions and made their way over to her and Lee. They gathered in a circle around her and she examined each one of them.

_Scanning…_

_Corporal Lee, an enthusiastic man of Asian descent, forty five, wife Molly, son Stephen…_

_Lieutenant Hansen, a quiet man, forty eight, widower, no offspring…_

_Sergeant Bent, a very tough man for a human, fifty, no spouse, many unknown offspring by an unknown amount of women…_

_Sergeant Gordon, a Scottish man known among the men for his 'legendary wit', forty four, wife Debra, daughter Chloe, son Felix…_

_Captain Harris, second in command, forty five, widower, twin daughters Hayley and Jessica…_

Cameron completed her scan and looked fondly at her men. Although they were all vastly different, they held several things in common. The first being they were all former Navy SEAL team members, the best of the best of what was left of the pre judgement day military and despite their age, still considered to be the elite. The second thing in common being an absolute and complete hatred for Skynet, and the third being unerring obedience and respect to one Cameron Connor, former Skynet Terminator, wife of their General and also their commanding officer. Although she held no official rank within John's army, Cameron was thought of by the troops, and her squad in particular, as second in command of the entire resistance. Her squad were the first to volunteer for any mission and were usually the first to jump to the defence of Cameron if any less enlightened souls happened to look down at her because of her machine nature. She had earned that honour by showing her prowess on the battlefield, and always treating her squad with the same respect they showed her, staying with them while their wounds were treated and always ensuring their families were looked after.

She loved them and they loved her…in their own unique, somewhat affectionate way.

"Hey fellas, check out our courageous leader's new jacket…" Bent let out a low whistle and appraised Cameron up and down "…hubby get that for you darling?"

Cameron tilted her head at the imposing subordinate.

"Yes actually"

"Great, I'll bet you get all sorts of perks when you're screwing the guy in charge huh fellas?" the sergeant looked around the other men for a sign of laughter or support and found none.

"Well I suppose you would know all about that Sergeant. I've heard you can't keep it in your pants long enough for it to dry from one encounter to the next"

Cameron's witty response caused a round of snickering from the others as she stared at Bent with her unflappable scary robot gaze while he glared at her angrily. Usually no-one dared make fun of the six foot six and built like a tank man with the unfortunate name of 'Sergeant Bent'…unless you happened to be Cameron of course. After a moment of tension between them, the corner of his mouth quirked up slightly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right ma'am. There's a reason why they say I've got a child in every bunker" he laughed and slapped her on her shoulder, earning himself an expression that was a cross between annoyed and amused.

"Stow it Bent. Keep your head in the game. What's the deal ma'am?" ever the voice of reason, Captain Harris commanded instant respect from the rest of the squad.

"It looks like bunker twenty two has been attacked. We're going in to investigate and rescue any survivors…" at her squads synchronised nods, she continued "…Hansen, cover us from this ridge while we move in…" she looked over at Hansen and he nodded before moving to lie down at the edge of the ridge with his sniper rifle "…Lee, inform command we've found Skynet activity and we're moving in…" Lee nodded, pressed a button on his earpiece radio and started talking rapidly "…Zig zag formation. Remember, just because we can't see any activity doesn't mean there aren't any tin cans in there, so stay alert". Cameron had picked up the phrase 'tin cans' and chose to use it when referring to enemy Terminators. She didn't particularly like the term having been subjected to it on several occasions over the years, but she did it for the sake of keeping things clear for her team.

Lee clicked his radio off and returned his attention to Cameron. She almost instantly raised her arm up vertically from the elbow and straightened it out towards the bunker, telling her squad to move out.

The five man squad rose from their crouched positions simultaneously and started making their way towards the smoking bunker. They moved swiftly and silently across the open terrain, safe in the knowledge they were being covered from above by the best sniper in the resistance. They reached the bunker without incident. Cameron signalled for Gordon and Bent to move to the right of the entrance hatch and Lee and Harris to the left. She herself took up a position on one knee just outside the hatch, ready to fire inside if necessary. She signalled for Gordon to pull the hatch open and she brought her plasma rifle up to her eye line.

The heavy hatch swung open, the rusted hinges complaining loudly. Cameron immediately scanned the entrance and found no threats. She cautiously stood, all the while keeping her rifle raised and moved in to the bunker. She signalled for the squad to follow her, which they immediately did quickly and quietly, taking up positions either side of her and scanning the interior for enemies.

The interior of the bunker branched off in to three directions, left, right and straight ahead. Cameron pointed at Gordon and Bent, then pointed her arm down the right tunnel. She did the same with Lee and Harris and the left tunnel. She herself took the tunnel straight ahead. Bodies of humans and triple eights littered the ground. It looked like the soldiers stationed at this bunker put up a hell of a fight.

As she moved further in to the bunker, the damage to the structure of the tunnels rather oddly seemed to become more and more intense. It looked like the main fight took place deeper in the tunnels rather than at the entrance. Cameron found this odd as the guards are usually always stationed near the entrance in case of Skynet attack. Also it appeared that there were a large amount of civilians gathered in one place in the direction she was walking…and they were all armed. It looked like they'd been trying to protect something deep inside the bunker rather than the bunker as a whole.

She rounded a corner and carefully stepped around several endoskeletons and dead bodies. Just as she was about to pass on further, she heard a tiny noise emanating from a partially collapsed room. She pressed her hand to her radio headset and spoke quietly.

"Activity at my location, standby"

She cautiously made her way towards the noise. A solitary light flickered in the main tunnel outside the room and illuminated the interior, not that she needed it to see inside anyway. She ducked under the beam that had collapsed across the entrance and scanned the piles of rubble. She detected many rods of twisted metal amongst the rubble that used to be the ceiling and walls. There were several bodies strewn around dressed in medical outfits. She heard another noise coming from slightly behind her. She whirled around, dropped to one knee and raised her rifle. After examining what she saw, she instantly lowered her rifle and pressed her hand to her ear again.

"Squad, regroup on me"

She switched on the headset's locator beacon. The resistance developed the technology years ago but didn't use it often as the signal could be tracked by any remaining Skynet units. She slowly stood and walked over to the source of the sound and crouched down when she reached it.

The source of the noise was a small baby, wrapped up in a blanket, whimpering unhappily in what appeared to be her mother's arms. Cameron reached out to touch the woman's neck and took a scan. She wasn't dead, but she wasn't far away from it either. At Cameron's touch, the woman stirred and looked up at her.

"What happened here?" Cameron asked.

"We…the others…got out…we…were caught…by the…cave in…" she could barely speak through the pain "…this is a…nursery…the soldiers helped us…escape…here…"

She used what remained of her strength to hold her arms out towards Cameron.

"…take her"

Cameron did as asked and carefully took the tiny baby in to her arms. She looked down at the child with a frown, she didn't know what to do with babies.

"I don't…"

"Please…take care…of her…I love you…Abigail"

The woman, evidently the baby's mother, used her last breath whispering her daughter's name. Her head lolled to her side just as the rest of Cameron's squad appeared in the doorway behind her. They looked on as she slowly stood and turned towards them. She was holding something very small in her arms and frowning down at it. Harris was the first to walk over to his commander and look down at what she was holding. His eyes widened when the baby in her arms whimpered softly and kicked her legs a little. Bent meanwhile moved behind Cameron and crouched down near the dead woman. He reached out and gently closed her eyes.

"Lee, guard the entrance, we have a survivor" Harris took charge with his order when he saw Cameron in an almost catatonic state staring down at the baby.

Lee did as he was told despite his overwhelming curiosity. Harris switched between staring at the baby and staring at Cameron. She seemed transfixed with the baby in her arms. Harris, being a father of two noticed she was holding the baby incredibly stiffly.

"Here…" he held his arms out towards Abigail. Cameron surprisingly recoiled away from his grasp. He spoke in a gentle, fatherly voice "…you're holding her wrong"

Cameron reluctantly allowed him to take the baby from her grasp. She didn't know why, but she felt an overwhelming desire to keep this child safe. Harris took Abigail in one arm and used his free hand to grasp hold of Cameron's. He did his best to adjust her arms in to a proper position for holding a baby. When he was satisfied, he placed Abigail back in to her arms.

"You have to support her head properly…" Abigail let out a small cry of disapproval at being passed around like a dollar bill "…gently rock your arms from side to side and it'll soothe her"

Cameron eyed him sceptically before deciding that the advice of Harris was probably more reliable than a Skynet database. She did as instructed and was immensely surprised when the baby in her arms almost instantly quieted down. She looked up and smiled at Harris. It was probably the first time any of her squad had seen a real, genuine smile from her. She was always careful to restrain herself around them and not allow them to see her as anything other than their commander. But upon seeing Abigail quiet down as if like magic made her forget her self imposed rule. Harris smiled in reply and looked down at Abigail with a smile on his face.

Soon after, Gordon and Bent had gathered round and gawked at the instant rapport Cameron seemed to have with this child. Eventually Lee spoke up from his position in the doorway.

"Is someone gonna clue me in? Or am I gonna have to guess what it is you're all so fascinated with?"

"Shut up Lee…" Harris pressed his hand to his radio "…Hansen, we're making our way out now. We've found a survivor"

The squad formed a protective circe around Cameron as they moved back through the tunnels. Cameron didn't seem to have looked up from her arms the whole way back until they reached the entrance. On the journey home, all five human members of the squad had the same thought running through their head.

_She is never putting that baby down ever again.

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Cameron finished telling her tale and looked over to Amy.

Amy slowly stood and turned to Cameron.

"I'm sorry" with that she walked away and left the room, leaving a slightly upset Cameron in her wake.

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**I know I suck a describing settings and scenes, sue me!**

**Huge thanks go to Dekardkain for helping me out with the military stuff in this chapter. I have no clue about any of it, that's probably why the descriptions suck!**

**Also, I'm purposefully keeping chapters in this story shorter than my usual. If I get bogged down with this story I'll never get back to my main story!**


	3. Chapter 2 Amy

**Hi guys,**

**Thanks to reviewers uncommoner, kaotic2, The1Russter, Dragon_Seraphin, gypsy069, olischulu, PuRiFiRe2027, XxDeathStarxX, morded, CloudyShadows, Steel_Dragon_64, fullhans1, NordWest, Nyrki and meanoldmoe

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"Gibbs, you have that report on sector 312?"

John looked up from shuffling through his sizeable stack of papers at the flustered young Private.

_Oh the life and times of a General._

"Uh, yessir, it's right here"

He handed a sheet over to John and he gave it a cursory glance.

"Wow, no activity. So it's pretty much the same as the other 311 sectors so far then huh?"

"Yes sir, Skynet sure is quiet lately"

John scratched at his 5 o'clock shadow and sighed.

"Where the hell are you hiding Skynet?"

John picked up another sheet and started reading.

"Okay, give me the status on…"

Just at that moment, John was disturbed by a rather unusually panicked looking Cameron bursting through the doors to his office with a screaming Abigail in her arms.

"John…" she marched right over to him and extended her arms out towards him "I think there's something wrong with our baby"

John's eyes flew wide at her incredibly urgent sounding declaration as she held her precious child out towards him. Her eyes practically pleaded with him to make it better.

"Wha, why…what's wrong?" he took Abigail from her arms and examined her closely. She continued to scream unhappily.

"I don't know, she won't stop crying. I've rocked her from side to side like Harris taught me but I still can't get her to stop"

John continued with his examination when a sudden unpleasant odour filled his nostrils.

_Oh._

"Uh, Cameron…you don't smell that?"

"I do. What does that have to do with her?" she grew increasingly impatient as John didn't seem to be doing anything to help her baby.

"Cameron, uh…" he turned to face Gibbs who looked a little shellshocked at the whole situation "…could you give us a minute please Gibbs"

Cameron watched the young man leave the room and turned back to glare at John.

"Cameron, let me explain something to you about babies…"

"John, we don't have time for this, she could be…" he cut her panicked pleas off abruptly.

"You need to understand that you have to do everything for babies, Cameron. Everything. Including taking care of their, uh, bathroom requirements…"

Cameron looked at him like he was an idiot until it suddenly clicked in her head what he was getting at and her eyes flew wide.

"So that's all that's wrong with her?"

John couldn't help but chuckle at her lack of understanding.

"Yes sweetheart. She just needs her diaper changing, she's uncomfortable that's all"

"So, she's not going to die?" she asked nervously.

"What, no. What makes you say that?"

"People cry when they're unhappy or sick. People often cry when they know they're about to die…" she looked up at John with her eyes shining slightly "…I though we were going to lose her" she looked down at the floor sheepishly.

"Oh Cameron, don't worry…" he did his best to pull her in to a hug despite the suddenly quieter baby in between them "…come on, I'll give you your second lesson in being a mommy…how to change a dirty diaper"

* * *

"You sure you don't want one of these?"

Private Jessop smirked as he held out a plasma rifle towards Amy. He knew what the answer would be. It would be the same answer he'd gotten the last hundred times he'd patrolled with her. He got what he was expecting in the form of a scrunched face and a punch to his thigh.

"You know I don't, stop asking"

_Ow, that one actually hurt._

Even though he had an almost daily punch in his thigh from the Terminator, it had never hurt this much before. He watched Amy barge her way past the other men in the armoury and exit the room. Almost instantly every eye in the room turned to face him as if to say 'you'd better fix this Private'. Frank Jessop sucked in a deep breath and followed his battle buddy out of the room and towards the exit of the bunker. He'd barely caught up with her by the time she'd reached the exit hatch. As soon as she stepped across the threshold, her body shimmered. When she'd reformed, gone was her yellow dress, replaced by standard issue camouflage pants and shirt, albeit a little on the small side. Her outfit seemed to match her mood over the past couple of days, dull and grey.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He planted himself on the wall beside her and waited patiently for an answer. He nearly toppled backwards off the wall when she rounded on him suddenly.

"NOTHING OKAY"

He took a moment to recover his composure. She'd never snapped at him before, and to be honest, he found it quite upsetting.

"I, I'm sorry"

Amy slowly turned around and looked at him apologetically.

"No, I'm sorry. It's not your fault. Just, let it drop…please?"

Just as Jessop opened his mouth to speak, the rest of their patrol came bouncing out of the bunker.

"Squad, form up. Today we're patrolling sector 342. Apparently our glorious leader has a hunch…" the relatively chunky Captain Wallace glanced around at each of his men "…I just hope he's not too busy being wrist deep in shit to be wrong…" a chorus of chuckles rang out from the men, all of them but Amy and Jessop "…Let's move out"

He watched his squad start marching in the direction of their first checkpoint. He took a step himself before he realised he didn't quite have a full compliment of troops.

"You joining us today half pint?"

Amy managed a glare at the Captain as she barged her way past him and caught up with the rest of the men. After almost being knocked on his ass, the Captain angrily glared at Jessop before setting off to follow the others.

* * *

John was sure he'd never seen Cameron focusing so hard on any one task before. He could have sworn that at one point she even stuck her tongue between her lips, such was her concentration. She'd observed John perform the action, but was adamant that she wanted to redo it herself, despite her perfect recall.

As she finished firmly securing the last sticky tab of the diaper, she double checked her work. Happy that the contraption was secure, she looked up at John and frowned.

"What?"

He smirked and moved around behind her, snaking his arms around her waist and clasped them in front of her. He looked down at his freshly changed baby and smiled.

"You're cute when you're concentrating"

Instead of receiving the shy smile he'd come to expect from her, he was on the unpleasant end of an annoyed glare.

"I want to do this right John. This child relies on me…on us. I don't want to mess it up"

He turned her around so that his hands were now clasped at her back and looked down at her miserable face.

"What makes you think you're gonna mess it up?" he asked seriously.

She huffed a little and looked up in to his kind eyes.

"You've just seen an example of it, I didn't know that she needed changing. What if you're not around and something else happens I don't know how to fix?"

John looked down and pulled her in to a hug he had a feeling she badly needed. Over the course of their long relationship, she'd become a very tactile creature, especially when it came to John. Often he would find her tracing patterns on his bare chest when he woke up in the morning even though he was alone when he went to sleep. Sometimes he would catch her twirling her own hair round her finger for no good reason. While it was an obviously very girly thing to do, it wasn't exactly standard behaviour for a cyborg.

She tentatively wrapped her arms around him and gave him a firm squeeze. John enjoyed her firm squeezes, despite them bordering on painful. It reminded him that even though she could crush him without even metaphorically breaking a sweat, she always consciously held back and obviously chose not to kill him. The contradiction of her still amazed him and made him love her even more.

He pulled back and saw the sight of her pathetic looking face. He pinched her cheek lovingly and chuckled slightly.

"Listen Cameron, I understand that you don't know everything there is to know about babies. I also know that scares you a little…" at the sight of the odd look she had on her face, he chose to revise his statement "…okay, it scares you a lot. But my point is that Skynet obviously chose not to include a guide on how to raise kids in your database, and that's okay, it just means that you'll have to learn the same way as everyone else does. You'll learn to read what our Abi is trying to tell you, and when you do, I'm sure you'll be the best mommy ever"

She looked down as she considered what he'd said. After a moment, she looked up to find him waiting patiently for her response.

"I've always relied on my database for everything I do. How am I supposed to take care of her without any reference?"

Abigail chose that moment to let out an unhappy whimper. Cameron quickly moved to her side and scooped her up in her arms and began gently shushing her. John watched on with a smile as Cameron used her sleeve to gently wipe some drool from Abigail's chin.

"You know, you say that Cameron, but did your Skynet database tell you how to fall in love with me?"

She shook her head.

"Did it tell you about that little spot on my body that you found that really, uh…gets me going"

She shook her head again.

"Last question. Did it tell you to do what you just did? Did it tell you to use your sleeve to clean up your daughter a little bit?"

Her eyes lit up at the realisation that what John was telling her was right. She hadn't used her database to decide on an action to perform, she'd simply just done it. Humans would call it instinct, and while that wasn't technically correct, the lines of code that initiated the action were the closest thing she had to them.

She looked down at a now settled Abigail. She tentatively brought her baby up towards her face and leaned down slightly. She placed a tiny kiss on her forehead and smiled when she stirred and kicked her little legs happily.

"You see. I knew you'd be good at this…" he reached out and wiggled one of Abigail's little feet playfully "…Don't worry about the little things, you can't be perfect all the time Princess"

She smiled at the use of her pet name and looked up at her husband. She reached up, grabbed him by his collar and pulled him down for a smouldering kiss. He braced his hand against her shoulder to avoid crushing their precious daughter. He felt her tongue brush against his as he moved his other hand up to tangle in her hair. She pulled back a little with his bottom lip nipped gently between her teeth. John's eyes flew wide at her apparent turned on mood and he had the sudden urge to throw her back on the bed and do some nasty things to her. As he brought his lips back closer to hers, the almost forgotten about Abigail took umbrage at the lack of attention she was receiving and aimed a kick at her mommy's breast, disturbing the mood ever so slightly. The couple looked down and let out a simultaneous disappointed sigh.

"Are we not giving you enough attention sweetie?" John reached out and took her from Cameron's arms gently.

She merely babbled in reply and looked up at her daddy. She stared at him for a moment before bringing her hand up and shoving her fingers in her mouth and sucking away happily. Cameron stared down with her head tilted.

"What is she doing?"

* * *

"Take five guys. You're on watch half pint"

The recon squad settled down in amongst the debris for a short breather on their way to sector 342. It was customary for Amy to take watch, after all she didn't need the rest. Usually she did it with a certain enthusiasm, today however she was in no mood for the captains well natured jibes at her stature.

"Fuck off Wallace"

With that, she stomped away from the group and sat herself down on the hood of a burned out car. She left in her wake, several wide mouthed men, an angry looking captain, and one very concerned friend.

Jessop watched her leave with a noticeable slump to his posture. He dumped the pack he was carrying on his back down on the ground and strolled over to where she was sitting. He propped himself up against the side of what remained of a nearby building with his legs and arms crossed. He examined her closely, he'd never seen her this depressed.

"Okay, I give up. What's the problem?"

"I told you to stop asking me" she glared at him dangerously, but he refused to back down.

"Yeah, you did, but I'm ignoring you anyway. You've been in a pissy mood for two days now…and you're gonna tell me just what the hell your problem is"

He'd never let her know that his heart felt like it was trying to pound its way out of his chest, but he resigned himself to the fact that she probably knew that anyway. Here he was, squaring up to a liquid metal Terminator as if he were a scolding father. If he wasn't so terrified, he probably would've found it funny. Evidently Amy did too as a soft chuckle found its way past her serious expression.

"Yes sir, Mr. Jessop sir" she held her hand to her temple in a mock salute and patted the spot next to her.

Frank's expression lightened hugely and he calmly walked over to Amy and took a seat next to her.

"Very good soldier…" he smirked and bumped her shoulder "…now tell me, what's wrong?"

Amy suddenly turned very solemn again and absently picked at a piece of rust on the hood of the car.

"I don't know really. I guess over the last few days I've been a little…"

"Jealous?"

He cut her off abruptly, but softened the blow with a gentle smile. Amy stared at him for a moment before nodding.

"I guess you're right. Ever since Abigail turned up I've just been feeling a little different than usual"

"But why? It's not like anything's really changed"

Amy sighed sadly and looked up at her friend.

"The thing is, when you go back to the bunker and in to that mess hall, you look around and you see your human friends. You talk to them, you have fun with them…and you even screw around with a particular blonde Corporal you think I don't know about"

Jessop's head swung around so fast it looked like it might fall off.

"How do you know that…you…you weren't like, posing as the chair or something were you?" he asked worriedly, earning himself a chuckle from Amy.

"No I was not…" she stated indignantly "…but my point is, you're surrounded by people similar to you all the time. The only one similar to me is Cammy. Sure there are plenty of scrubbed triple eights around, but they're not much more than walking toasters compared to her and me"

"Well aren't you all high and mighty today?" she smiled and punched him on the arm.

"But now that she's got a baby to take care of, I guess I'm just a little worried that I'm going to end up a sad and lonely machine who's only friend is some lame ass Private"

Now it was his turn to playfully punch her on the arm. He sat quietly and considered what she'd just said for a moment. When he spoke, it was in a gentle, almost fatherly voice.

"Listen, Amy. I don't really know Mrs. Connor, in fact I've never even met her. But I don't think the general is the type of man that marries the type of girl that just ditches her friends because she has a new plaything"

"But she's not really a girl though"

"Neither are you, but just because you're made of metal doesn't mean you're not my friend…and hers too"

Just as Amy was about to reply, a gruff voice bellowed out from the direction of the rest of the squad.

"Alright ladies, break time's over, let's get moving"

Amy almost immediately stood and started marching back towards the men.

"Hey, just spend some time with Abigail, I'm sure you'll grow to like her. Don't worry about Mrs. Connor either. If she's like any human mother, she'll be totally infatuated for a while. It doesn't mean she'll stop spending time with you…" he gave her a kind smile "…and if all else fails then you still have old Frankie boy here"

For the first time in two days, Amy smiled a real genuine smile and raced over to her friend. She slapped him on the arm and flashed him a stupid grin.

"Tag, you're it"

As quickly as she'd said it, Amy changed shape in to her eel like form and raced away towards the crowd of soldiers. Needless to say they were surprised to see something metallic slither between then. They were probably more surprised at the sight of a young Private barging his way through them to chase after it while yelling 'I'm gonna get you'.


	4. Chapter 3 Gifts

**Hi,**

**Thanks to reviewers The1Russter, kaotic2, ljm, CloudyShadows, meanoldmoe, XxDeathStarxX, gypsy069 and Nyrki.

* * *

**

"Daddy, where's mommy?"

Four heads turned almost in unison and watched as a five year old Abigail Connor unhappily stomped right up to her daddy with a tattered old bear clutched to her chest. It wouldn't have been an odd sight, but the fact that she'd chosen to burst in to John's office during a meeting of his senior staff made it rather strange for all the rooms occupants besides John himself. Smiling to himself and flashing apologetic looks at his Generals, John bent down in his chair and placed his hands on her upper arms in a tender fashion.

"Sweetie, you know it's rude to interrupt people…" he glanced up at the other men in the room "…especially when Daddy's in a meeting with Uncle Derek, Uncle James and Uncle Charley"

He looked down at his daughter while she gave her best impression of her mother by pouting and staring at him with big doe eyes.

Despite her birth mother being blonde, Abigail had developed a head of full, long, dark brown hair. The resemblance to Cameron was striking despite them obviously having no blood relation, so to speak. John was so captivated by his daughter's beauty that he was startled when she shrugged his hands off her and stamped her foot petulantly.

"But I need mommy NOW"

John sighed and looked up at his colleagues, friends and by this point in time what he considered to be his family.

"Could you give us a minute please gentlemen?"

Derek Reese, the younger version, the older having died at the start of the war, Charley Dixon and James Ellison stood and shared smirks and knowing glances at each other before quietly leaving the room. They knew when not to get involved in a family squabble. After all, Abigail was known for having a nasty temper…once a Connor, always a Connor. Each one of the girl's 'uncles' had found themselves on the receiving end of a tantrum or two when assigned babysitting duties and weren't in any rush to repeat the experience. John watched them leave before looking back down at a, clearly on the verge of erupting, Abigail.

"Abi…" he paused for a moment, he hated having to do this "…don't you EVER do that again…"

The little girl's eyes flew wide and she clutched her bear tighter. Her daddy didn't tell her off very often, but when he did, she paid attention and the lesson invariably stuck.

"…I told you I was having a meeting and that you were to stay with Laura…" he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and when he spoke again it was in a much softer voice "…Honey, sweetie, I don't like you walking around this base on your own. It's not safe for you to be walking around here okay. That's why Laura looks after you when your mommy and me aren't around. She's strong like your mommy and she won't let anything happen to you…" he brought his hand up and rubbed her cheek with his thumb "…Do you understand me Abigail?"

She gave a tiny nod and hugged her bear closer. She knew the rules and she knew she'd broken them. But she had a really, really good reason…or so she thought.

"I'm sorry…" John thought her bottom lip sticking out was adorable "…Where's mommy?"

"Mommy had to go away for a few days, you know that" he answered in a kind voice.

"But why? I need her" she whined in reply.

"She had to go see some friends, some very important friends. She's been doing it every month since you were born. What could be so important that you need her now?"

Abigail sighed sadly and unfolded her arms. She held out her left arm and showed John her elbow, complete with a nasty looking scrape. He took hold of her arm very gingerly and kneeled down in front of her.

"Oh, baby, how'd you get this?"

"I was playing with Rebecca and I bumped in to a wall" she sniffled and pouted to seal the deal.

"Let me take care of that"

John stood and went back to his desk, pulled opened the bottom drawer and retrieved a first aid kit. He set it down on the table and turned back to Abigail. With a flourish he picked her up and sat her on the edge of the desk and took hold of her arm again. After examining it for a moment, he reached in to the medical kit and pulled out a bottle of antiseptic disinfectant and some cotton wool. He poured some liquid on the cotton wool and hovered it over her wound.

"This is gonna hurt, sweetie"

He waited for her nod before gently dabbing at the graze. She hissed at the pain, but to her eternal credit, didn't even look like she was about to start crying. _That's my girl, tough like your mother._

As he tended her arm, she clutched her bear tighter in to her chest with her free arm and whimpered a little.

"So why did you want your mommy so much?"

"Well, you were busy. I wanted someone to make it better"

"I'm sure Laura could've seen to this for you until I got back"

Abigail looked away from him and shrugged.

"I don't like Laura" she declared in a tiny voice.

"What, why? Laura's nice, that's why I made her your babysitter"

"She's not nice. She just keeps staring and slowly turning her head round. She's creepy"

John stopped his treatment and looked at her seriously.

"Abi, do you not like Laura because she's a machine?"

Another shrug.

"I guess"

"Abi, do you have a problem with machines?"

Shrug.

"Do you have a problem with your mommy being a machine?" he asked with a rising sense of anger.

Her eyes flew wide and she started shaking her head vigorously. Even though she hadn't cried with the pain of her wound, tears threatened to spill at the question.

"NO, no, no, no, no. I love mommy"

"Well then, what is it?"

"I, I wanted mommy to kiss it better. She always makes stuff better. Laura doesn't do that"

The tears she'd been trying to hold back flowed freely down her cheeks now. John immediately hated himself for asking such a thing and for even thinking it in the first place. He pulled her in to a hug and gently rubbed her back while she sniffled in to his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Abi. I know you love mommy…I love her too. I'm just a little protective of her that's all"

He felt her nod in to his shoulder and continued to rub her back comfortingly. After a minute, she spoke.

"Daddy…what's pro-tec-tive mean?"

John couldn't help but chuckle and pulled back from the hug. He used his thumb to wipe her damp cheeks and smiled.

"It means I love her very much, and I don't want anything bad to happen to her"

"Me too"

John went back to treating her wound. When he'd finished putting a plaster over her elbow, he brought her arm up to his face and placed a kiss on top of the new plaster. Abigail smiled in return and moved to hop down off the table when he stopped her.

"Hey, you wanna go for a piggy back ride and watch everyone salute you?"

Her smile grew even wider and she nodded enthusiastically. He turned around and helped her climb up on to his back. She linked her arms around his neck and they set off out of the room in search of some entertainment. He noticed she still clung to the bear in her left hand. Since almost the day they found her, she'd always loved that tattered old thing. As he walked down the corridor and watched each one of his men stop and salute, he fondly remembered the first time she met her new toy.

* * *

"We've got more incoming here sir"

General John Connor popped his head up from behind the barrier to survey the scene.

"Looks like we're gonna need some reinforcements Lieutenant"

"Yes sir, I'm on it"

With that, the young lieutenant hurdled several items strewn about the place and went to get help. John meanwhile risked another glance out from behind cover.

"Damn, looks like we're gonna need a lot more reinforcements…it's gonna take me forever to find a place to put all this stuff"

He stood up fully from behind his cover that consisted of several unopened crates of 'Huggies' diapers piled as high as his head.

For the last few days, gifts had been pouring in from the human population for Abigail. Evidently it didn't take long for word to spread that the Connor's now had a child. He found it somewhat amazing that, first of all, all of this survived judgement day, and second of all that people would actually horde this stuff. It looked like some of these crates had been in storage for years judging by the amount of dust on them. Apparently some people deemed Abigail important enough to donate what they had.

But it wasn't just the unopened diapers that surprised him. Many people simply decided to gift some of their old baby things to them. There were many different baby clothes of all shapes and sizes, as well as two cribs, three bassinets and enough toys to keep even a grown man occupied indefinitely. John smiled while thinking about the generosity of some people and looked back down behind the crates at his little treasure.

Abigail lay flat on her back, happily kicking her legs in the air. She was dwarfed by their double bed and looked tiny laying in the middle of it. She was recently fed and changed and therefore happy, much to John's delight. He was used to sleepless nights, but sleepless nights listening to his poor baby screaming he was really struggling to cope with. He scooped her up in his arms, earning himself a slight whimper of protest that her playtime was interrupted. John hefted her up in to a position so that she could see the room they were in.

"You see all this stuff Abigail?" he walked several paces around the room "…all this is for you. It means people love you, and they wanted to be nice to you"

Instead of replying, like John was stupidly hoping she would, she simply stuck her fingers in her mouth and started sucking. John sighed and started gently bouncing her in his strong arms. He was interrupted by a soft knock on the metal hatch to his quarters which was pinned open to allow the supplies in and out. He looked over and saw a young, rather attractive girl no more than sixteen years old hovering near the entrance. She had something clutched in her hands and peered in to the room shyly.

"Can I help you…um…"

She stood to attention as best she could, given the height of the hatch.

"Parks sir, Emily Parks"

"Parks, can I help you miss Parks?"

"Yes sir, I, um…" she stepped across the threshold of the entrance and her gaze locked on the baby in John's arms "…I have something for her" she said, nodding towards Abigail.

"Oh…" John took a coupe of steps and closed the gap between the two, he watched as she almost melted at the sight of his daughter bundled up in a white blanket "…what would that be miss?"

Her eyes snapped back up to John's and she blushed noticeably.

"Sir, I'm about to join the base's training wing. I'm joining the resistance sir"

"That's excellent soldier…" he tilted his head in a quirk he'd picked up from his wife "…go on"

The young girl brought her hand around in front of her and revealed a tattered old stuffed bear.

"I've had this bear since as long as I can remember. It's always helped me through some…bad times. I'd like her to have it"

Slightly taken aback by the young woman's generosity, he examined her face and found nothing but innocence and kindness.

"You don't want it any more?"

"Well, I do sir. It's just that I don't think a tough resistance soldier should really be hanging out with teddy bears. I'll have a reputation to uphold" she smirked a little and looked at John for approval.

John nodded and held out his arms a little further and moved closer to her. Emily tentatively reached out and held the bear out for Abigail. Abi's eyes almost instantly locked on the strange looking bear and she stopped sucking on her fingers. She slowly pulled her hand out of her mouth and gurgled a little. She tentatively reached out and grabbed the bear in her tiny hand. Emily lowered the bear towards her and somewhat reluctantly let go, allowing Abigail to pull it in to her grasp fully and stuff an ear in to her mouth causing both her and John to smile.

"I think she likes it" John said in a kind voice.

"Good, I'm glad he's going to a good home" Emily sounded very sad, sad enough to tug on John's heart strings a little. He watched as she gently stroked Abigail's cheek with the back of her fingernail.

"Listen, Emily, I wanna do something to repay you for this"

Emily immediately started shaking her head vigorously in protest.

"N, no sir, that's not necessary"

John smiled and laid a fatherly hand on her shoulder.

"Yes it is. I look after the people who are good to me and my family…" she smiled shyly and John continued "…You're going in for training soon?"

Emily nodded, still staring wide eyed at her General.

"Okay, so in six months when your training's complete, you come back here and see me. I may have something special in mind for you"

She didn't think it was possible, but her eyes grew even wider. The great General John Connor knew who she was, and was planning on taking an interest in her life, all because she'd given her teddy to his daughter. She withdrew her hand from Abigail's cheek and stood to attention. She raised her arm and did her best to salute. Her form was sloppy, but whatever, she hadn't been taught how to do it yet. John saluted back and smiled warmly.

"At ease soldier…and thank you…" he looked down at his daughter fondly "…I don't think she's ever letting go of him" he chuckled a little and looked back up at Emily and her beaming smile. She once again reached over and tickled Abi's chin.

"I guess I'd better be going sir"

"Good luck Emily, remember what I said"

"I will, thank you sir"

She turned and left the room, sparing a glance back over her shoulder at Abigail and her bear.

John looked down as Abigail happily sucked on the bear's ear while looking up at him.

"You see, I told you people love you"

* * *

John eventually managed to shush Abigail to sleep and placed her down in her new bassinet with her still clinging to her new bear. He'd set to work on quietly moving boxes and clothes to try and get their quarters in some semblance of order before Cameron returned. She was like a mother in regards to tidiness, always nagging at him to keep the place neat.

When he had most of the clothing squared away and the crates moved in to a nearby empty room for quick access, Amy wandered in to the room and looked around.

"Wow, been busy?"

Her voice startled John who was busily arranging Abigail's new clothes in to the order of onesies to dresses then to miscellaneous items he had no clue about. He looked up and saw Amy entering the room sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah. All this stuff keeps pouring in for Abi. I guess word is spreading about her"

"Yeah, looks like it"

John was a little confused by her uninterested tone.

"Listen, John, I…"

She was interrupted when a young corporal burst in to the room, sweating and out of breath.

"Sir, we need you in the war room, right now"

"What is it Corporal?"

"Sir, I don't know, they just sent me here to get you" the young man leaned against the entrance and struggled to catch his breath.

John sighed and turned to Amy.

"Duty calls. Could you look after Abi for a while please?"

"Well, I…"

"Thanks" John called back over his shoulder as he swiftly left the room leaving Amy alone with Abigail for the first time.

Amy slowly and cautiously walked over to the bassinet, she peered in and looked down at the sleeping baby. She had to admit, the child did look angelic and she could see why John and Cameron had instantly fallen in love with her. Amy however had little interest in the child. The less contact she was forced to have with her the better.

Then suddenly, Amy's worst fear was realised as Abigail's eyes fluttered open.

_Oh crap._

Abi almost immediately let out an ear piercing scream, unhappy that her mommy and daddy weren't around. To top things off, she dropped her new bear and was unable to grab it again, making her cries louder and more urgent. Amy didn't quite know what to do. She knew she had to do something to stop the irritating noise, but she had no clue how to go about doing it.

She reached in to the bassinet and picked the baby up gently and settled her in her relatively small but still impossibly strong arms. She also picked up the stuffed bear, obviously knowing the importance these things had to children, her own experiences with Jenny being a painful reminder. Bringing the bear around in front of Abigail, she allowed the child to grab the bear and watched as she immediately stuck it in her mouth where it belonged, stopping the screaming much to Amy's relief.

She looked down at the girl in her arms and looked on curiously as her eyes followed her every move. She tilted her head to the left and watched as Abigail's eyes followed. She tilted to her right, and again her eyes followed. Amy actually found herself amused as she continued to look down at the small human.

"Hello. I'm Amy. I guess…I'm your Aunt"

She had no clue why she was talking to the baby, it's not like she could understand. But her theory was put to the test when suddenly Abigail's tiny mouth broke out in to a smile around the bear's ear. Amy quickly accessed her database and looked up human maturation patterns. Apparently babies weren't supposed to smile until they're six weeks old. As far as anybody could tell, Abigail was only three weeks old.

This was the first time the child had smiled at anybody, and she'd chose Amy. For some reason, Amy felt an overwhelming happiness that she was chosen to be the first person this sight was gifted to. She was finally beginning to understand why all the attention was suddenly focused on Abigail. She also felt stupid for harbouring feelings of jealousy towards her.

Amy walked around the room and gently rocked Abigail, smiling at her and trying to get her to repeat the feat to no avail.

"Come on, smile, you can do it"

Another smile formed on her face. Amy realised that the child was smiling at the sound of her voice. Before she could do it again, John came storming back in to the room looking a lot more pissed off than when he'd left. He looked down and found Abigail in a smiling Amy's arms.

"Hey, you two getting along okay?" he said half jokingly.

"John, look at this, she, she smiled at me"

John kneeled down next to them with a huge smile on his face.

"Really? She did?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah she did, watch…Abi, can you smile for me again please?"

Both John and Amy watched as Abi broke out in to a wide grin and chewed on her bear. John chuckled and reached out to stroke his daughter's cheek before turning to Amy.

"Thank you. She has a beautiful smile. I guess she likes you more than me huh?"

Amy looked down at the baby and considered his words.

"Yeah…I guess she does. I'm sorry I've been such a bitch lately. I, I guess I was a little jealous of her"

John chuckled again and pulled Amy in to a hug, something she clearly wasn't used to and didn't quite know how to respond to.

"It's okay to be a little jealous. All kids are when there's a new baby born"

"But I'm not really a kid John. I'm a machine, I shouldn't be jealous of a baby" she realised the way she said it made it sound even more ridiculous.

"Hey…" he pulled back from the hug and looked at her seriously "…you're a kid to me. I mean, Cameron's a machine, but I think of her as my wife, friend and the mother of my child. I think of you as just Amy…the second cutest kid on this base"

Amy looked up to find him grinning at her.

"Second? I'll show you second. Come on Abi, let's go kick daddy's ass"

Abigail gurgled in reply and continued to chew on her bear as Amy set off in hot pursuit of John as he quickly scampered away.

* * *

**I think this is the first chapter I've ever wrote that doesn't have any Cameron in it. Yay me!**

**Also, in case you haven't guessed it already, this entire story is inspired by DarkDanny, ElusiveSanity and the Delusive thread on the blue wiki. Love you Alexis!**

**(If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you're probably best off not finding out!)**


	5. Chapter 4 Duty

**Hi,**

**Thanks to reviewers Steel_Dragon_64, XxDeathStarxX, olischulu, meanoldmoe, The1Russter, PuRiFiRe2027, Dragon_Seraphin, gypsy069, Nyrki, CloudyShadows, macgamer and ljm.**

**Nice quick update this time! :)

* * *

**

_Access database…_

_Which database would you like Mrs. Connor?…_

Smiling to herself for managing to change the prompt of her CPU, Cameron resumed her query.

_Database titled 'John's behaviour'…_

_Standby…_

_Database accessed, please input parameters…_

_Search for instances of currently observed behaviour…_

_Searching, standby…_

_No matches found…_

_Add current behaviour in to database and classify it under 'Unknown'…_

_Standby…_

_Action entered…_

Over the course of their long marriage and their even longer relationship, Cameron had witnessed John performing many different actions during his sleep. She'd seen him snore, talk, walk, cry, move, grab and scream. But this…this was something new entirely. She looked down at his sleeping form, currently naked and cuddled up against her own naked self with a sense of fascination. He clung to her waist with his head buried in her breasts, nothing unusual there. But what was unusual was the fact that his lower body seemed to be moving on its own. He repeatedly thrust his pelvic region towards her leg and he seemed to be muttering to himself. She thought she heard the words 'don't stop baby' and 'feels so good' coming from him. She'd obviously heard those words before from him, but he was usually awake and lying on top of her when he said them. His body movement was reminiscent of how she'd seen dogs treat their masters legs.

_Reclassify current behaviour as…_

_Hmm, how to describe it?_

_Reclassify current behaviour as…'Sleep humping'…_

"Mmmuvv you Cammron"

John once again muttered in his sleep while he continued to dry hump her leg. Cameron looked around their quarters and at the baby supplies still piled in the corner. She'd let him off with her tidiness rules when he'd told her of the discovery of Abigail smiling for the first time. Her attention then focused on said baby who currently lay sleeping contentedly in her new bassinet near their bed. She clung to a small brown bear, which much to Cameron's annoyance, she refused to let go of. She'd discovered her attachment to the thing when she'd tried to remove it from her when she was about to change her diaper. As soon as it was removed, with some difficulty, from her grasp she nearly screamed the entire base down, forcing Cameron to return the toy.

However John's current behaviour was a source of both amusement and confusion for Cameron. She prided herself on knowing almost every detail about her husbands mind, including his subconscious thought processes. His current action of 'sleep humping' caught her totally by surprise. While it was true that as far as couples go, Mr. And Mrs. Connor were usually very active in the bedroom, it was also true that recently they hadn't found the time for intimacy since Abigail came in to their lives. More and more frequently John found himself exhausted and unable to stay awake long enough to even attempt to engage in any sexual activities with her. She'd reminded him that she didn't need to sleep, except for three hours every three days, and had offered to see to Abigail's needs while he slept. However John had insisted that they take turns during the night, citing the reason of 'that's what parents do'. Cameron reluctantly agreed to this, despite knowing that it would lead to him becoming fatigued, irritable and lead to a lack of sex for herself. She liked sex with John, and she didn't like being denied it because he continued to insist on treating her like a human woman. Of course she appreciated the behaviour most of the time, it just irritated her that he wouldn't take advantage of her machine nature when it was of obvious benefit to both of them.

This time it was lack of sex that was apparently affecting John. He'd never dry humped her in his sleep before. She made a mental note to be sure to tease him about it when the opportunity arose. He was in for more disappointment as her monthly intelligence mission was due to start today. That meant she'd be away with her squad for at least three days, leaving John to take care of the baby and cope with his case of 'blue balls', as she'd once heard it described to her. With his last comment however, she did feel reassured that he still loved her and wouldn't be stupid enough to try and solve his problem with another woman. Despite the fact she knew that he loved her with all his heart, she still worried that he would indulge with another human woman. After all, he was the great General Connor, he could have his pick of any woman he wanted.

Cameron cancelled the processes she'd dedicated to this train of thought. It was stupid, John would never cheat on her and she knew it. A sound from the bassinet drew her gaze in that direction. When she saw Abigail whimper a little and shuffle around, she started to try and detach herself from John. After a moment however, Abi settled down and went back to sleeping peacefully. Cameron closed her eyes as she always did when she was in bed while John was asleep and waited for 0600 hours to get up, ready for her mission.

* * *

Cameron 'awoke' several hours later and immediately started disentangling himself from a still sleeping John. Quietly, she crept over to the bassinet and examined a wide awake but oddly silent Abigail. The child peered up at her mommy while she happily chewed on her bear. She appeared to just be quietly getting on with it, despite Cameron's olfactory sensors detecting a messy diaper. She reached in and pulled Abigail and her teddy out of the bassinet before carrying them both over to John's desk, otherwise now known as a changing table.

The problem of how to feed their baby had become apparent immediately, what with Cameron obviously not being able to breastfeed. The human population of the world had placed an unofficial ration on baby formula for the rare occasion that mothers either weren't capable of breastfeeding, or a more common occurrence, died before their baby had matured. A large supply had found it's way to the Connors almost immediately and Cameron set to work swiftly and efficiently preparing a bottle of the substance. Abigail watched her closely from her position in her arms while she continued to suck on the bear. When the bottle was ready, Cameron once again tried to remove the bear from her grasp, only to be met with unimpressed cries of protest. Eventually she managed to replace the bear with the bottle and watched as she suckled contentedly on her breakfast.

Returning to the bed, Cameron gently shook John awake. He mumbled something about her being 'too rough' before waking up fully and looking around. He smiled when he was greeted with the sight of his stark naked wife with his baby in her arms.

"Good morning…" he stood and planted a kiss on his two favourite ladies' cheeks "…you all set for your mission, besides your clothes obviously?"

Cameron looked down, as if noticing her nakedness for the first time. She briefly considered trying to squeeze in a quickie before Abigail let out a tiny burp and started crying, tearing both their attention away from each other. John reached out and took her from Cameron's arms, freeing her up to get dressed with a small sense of disappointment.

"Oh, is my baby girl all full up?"

He brought her up to his shoulder and gently patted her back, encouraging her to burp more. He sat down on the edge of the bed and lecherously watched Cameron getting dressed. She caught a glimpse of him staring at her out of the corner of her eye and purposefully slowed down her movements. John was so enraptured by the sight, he failed to notice Abigail burping several times and spitting up on his shoulder. Cameron pulled her shirt on finally and casually strolled over to him. She bent over and placed her face right in his, planting a soft kiss on his lips.

"John…"

"Yeah?…"

"Her diaper needs changing"

With that, she planted another kiss on him before gracefully turning on her heel and exiting the room, leaving a startled John and a smelly baby in her wake.

* * *

"So I guess we're walking again then boss?"

Cameron glanced over her shoulder at the obnoxious Sergeant Bent as he sat on a piece of broken wall cleaning his rifle with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Yes, we're walking Bent. It should help you to lose a few desperately needed pounds"

Bent would be outraged and start throwing punches if anyone other than his CO had dared insult his slightly porky frame. Instead he merely chuckled and saluted lazily.

"Yes ma'am"

Cameron turned back to face John who currently had an awake and squirming Abigail in his arms. This was more unusual behaviour from John. Normally he wouldn't come out of the base to see her off. She'd been doing this mission every month for the last fifteen years and he'd only came to see her off once, the first time. He knew that this was her mission and her squad, he didn't want to undermine her or make her seem weak in any way. Today however he had a feeling that he'd made the right decision.

"I'll see you in a few days Cameron, we'll miss you"

He picked up Abigail's hand and waved it for her.

"Say goodbye to mommy, Abi"

John's heart melted when she went wide eyed and gurgled. He looked up to find Cameron in a similar train of thought to himself. She took the decision that she didn't care if they were in front of her squad, she wrapped her arms around John's neck and hugged him tight, suddenly having a desire not to leave. Abigail gurgled again while looking up at Cameron, causing her to look down at her baby. She bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead, then returned higher to kiss John firmly on the lips.

"I'll miss you too. I love you both"

She planted another kiss on her husband before detaching from his neck and heading over to her men. She spared a glance over her shoulder and saw Abigail 'waving' at her again. She almost…almost decided to skip the mission and go back to her family…almost.

"You okay ma'am?"

Captain Harris strolled along beside her and had a concerned look on his face for the cyborg.

"Yes, I'm fine Captain…" she realised from the hurt look on his face that her tone was harsher than intended "…it's just that I'm worried about leaving them for some reason"

Her softer tone seemed to appease Harris somewhat as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It's always tough for a parent to leave their baby. I remember the first time I had to leave Hayley and Jessica with their mother. I was so worried about them that I almost got my head blown off by a triple eight"

Harris chuckled until he saw Cameron's scrunched up face.

"What?"

"I know…I was there. I was the one who pulled you out of the way of the shot"

"Oh yeah…me and my family are eternally grateful to you for that by the way ma'am…" he chuckled again "…besides, he's John Connor. I'm sure he can handle one little girl"

* * *

"Abi, shhh, please stop crying"

John had been pacing the room with Abigail held to his shoulder for the last half hour. She'd been fed, burped, changed and had a nap. As far as John's somewhat limited knowledge went, that was all that babies needed to be happy. However his baby still insisted on crying and refused to settle, even for a minute. She'd even rejected her favourite bear when he tried to give it to her in favour of continuing to scream unhappily.

"I know you miss your mommy, but you're gonna have to be happy with just me"

His words did nothing to soothe her as she continued screeching in his ear and fidgeting in his arms. He gently rubbed her back and bounced her a little, trying everything he knew. He was interrupted by a firm knock on the hatch to his quarters. With a sigh, he reluctantly made his way over to the hatch and pulled the heavy steel door open. The sight of a large, hulking beast of a man greeted him, and when he spoke in a deep, mechanical voice it made Abigail scream just that little but louder.

"General Dixon requests your presence in the war room sir"

John winced at the harshness of his voice. That was the problem with these old eight hundred series models, no matter how convincing they were close up, they all looked like bodybuilders and were easy to pick out of a crowd and weren't very subtle. John liked them though, and he made sure to keep a few on every base. Not only did they remind him of Uncle Bob, but they were also reliable. Not one single reprogrammed eight hundred had ever been known to go bad without external interference. It was the new fangled tripe eights with their more complex CPU's that were prone to going bad.

"Right, of course, war room. Uh, do you know where Amy is?" he asked hopefully.

"Location of T-1002 unit, designation 'Amy' is currently unknown" he rattled off mechanically, causing John to roll his eyes.

"A simple no would have sufficed. Alright Abi, I guess we're going to go see the war room"

She stopped crying for a moment and John thought he'd managed to find sweet relief…until she suddenly hiccuped and then started screeching again.

_Damn._

The machine messenger looked at the small child currently clinging to General Connor's shoulder curiously.

"Why is that child making that noise?"

John rather surprisingly laughed and clapped the much larger framed machine on the shoulder.

"If I knew that, she wouldn't be making it in the first place"

* * *

Moving through route gamma, Cameron and her team, dubbed 'Purple Squad', encountered next to no resistance on the way to their destination. The journey had taken almost a full day as usual, leaving the human members of the team quite tired and irritable. However they still maintained their discipline and silence as they crossed the hostile terrain of what used to be Los Angeles. Eventually they came to a compound that stuck out like a sore thumb from the landscape. It was well lit and well guarded by a large amount of triple eight endoskeletons. No force in its right mind, be it human or Skynet would dare to try and attack this fortress.

Purple Squad followed the standard procedures for approaching the place and held their plasma rifles in front of them pointing vertically. While initially unhappy about the arrangements, the men had grown accustomed to it and accepted that they couldn't really do anything to alter the situation. The six soldiers approached the main gate. Cameron monitored the endos guarding the gate as they tracked the teams every movement with weapons raised. She was under no illusions, the occupants of this place didn't trust them in the slightest, and she had no doubts that they would be shredded by plasma fire if they made even a single mistake.

Two endoskeletons approached the team and one of them held up its hand in a stop gesture. The squad immediately stopped all movement while still holding their rifles out in front of them. The two Terminators moved in amongst the group. One scanned each individual while the other collected their weapons from them. Seemingly satisfied, the scanning Terminator's eyes briefly flashed red and the gates started to swing open slowly with a loud scraping noise and revealed an even more brightly lit interior.

Cameron and her men proceeded cautiously through the gates, closely followed by their two Terminator escorts. Cameron took point, flanked by Harris, leaving the other four men to walk two abreast behind them. They walked across the gap between the walls and the building until they came to a door with seemingly no access panel or visible way to unlock the door. Cameron watched as the camera above the door swung to face them. After a moment, the door unlocked and creaked open. The two Terminators each prodded the rearmost men in the back with the muzzle of their rifles. Unfortunately one of the men just happened to be Sergeant Bent, he did not like being pushed around by anyone, let alone a machine. Were it not for Cameron's swift intervention, he probably would have got them all killed with some sort of stupid retaliation.

"Bent…" she waited until he turned around to face her and shook her head "…move inside"

She stood and waited until the men passed by her and in to the building before glaring at first Bent, and then up at the camera. She spared one last glance back at the main gates before heading in to the building behind her squad.

* * *

"Alright Charley, what was so important you had to drag me and the little one in to the war room?"

Every face in the room looked up in unison as the sound of a screaming baby entered the room. They swiftly returned to their monitor screens when they saw it was a pissed off and tired looking General Connor and his daughter entering. All except General Dixon that was, who continued to stare incredulously at John as he continued to try and soothe a now whimpering Abigail.

"Johnny, why'd you bring her in here?"

"I couldn't very well leave her alone now could I?" he asked in an obvious tone.

"Huh, good point…" Charley smiled and slapped the man he thought of as his son on his arm "…Now Johnny, we've got intel coming in from other bases that you need to look at"

John looked at him like he'd just sprouted another arm and started talking to him in three handed sign language. He shuffled Abi in to a different position.

"I'm kinda busy here Charley, can't one of the intel guys do that?"

Charley replied in a much quieter voice so that he wouldn't be overheard.

"John…you haven't done any actual General duties in nearly a fortnight. People need to see that their General is actually doing something to find Skynet and not just being a stay at home daddy"

John reluctantly nodded. He had to admit that he'd been neglecting his duties recently. He offered a tired smile to Charlie and moved to take a seat behind the closest monitor. Charley smiled and walked over to another station to talk to another soldier currently staring at a map.

John settled himself in to the seat and switched Abigail in to his left arm. She continued to make unhappy sounding noises and kept on bringing her hands up to her eyes. John distractedly tapped a few keys and brought up the first intel report. The monitors displayed the report in old school green text on a black background. It reminded him of all the really old computer systems he used to salvage and work on back when he was a kid. As he flicked through the reports, Abigail become even more agitated and continued to try and shield her eyes.

"Hey you, Private…" at the young mans hesitant point to himself and a mouthed 'me?', john continued "…yeah you. Could you switch the lights in this room off please?"

The young private didn't hesitate and immediately scampered over to the room's control panel and dimmed the overhead lights, leaving only the glow from the many screens to illuminate the room.

"There, is that better?" he asked the baby in his arms.

He watched as Abigail stopped crying, but still continued to whimper softly. He propped her up so that she was resting against his arm but facing the screen. She seemed to be fascinated by the lights of the screen and almost immediately stopped making her unhappy noises. John watched her eyelids drooping and breathed a sigh of relief when after a minute she finally drifted off to sleep.

He looked up to find that a small crowd had gathered around him to see what all the commotion was about. He cleared his throat and the crowd quickly dispersed and returned to whatever they were doing, including talking loudly down their radio headsets. Abi stirred a little and let out a soft cry of disapproval, causing the soldiers in the room to almost instinctively lower their volume a few notches, creating an eerily quiet war room for the first time since the war started.

John chuckled at the sights and sounds that surrounded him as he returned to browsing through the reports on his screen.

* * *

Cameron and her men were brought in to their usual bright white and well lit holding room to wait. As usual, Cameron stood in the middle of the room while the men took the opportunity to slump against the walls and take a few swigs from their canteens.

"Every month…every god damn month we do this" Bent muttered unhappily from his position behind Cameron.

"Yes, every month. You catch on fast" Harris immediately remarked, earning himself a glare from Bent.

"Any idea why they insist on all the security measures?" Corporal Lee asked from his spot beside Hansen.

"It's just incase any idiot gets any stupid ideas" Sergeant Gordon spoke in his thick Scottish accent while shooting a glare in Bent's direction.

"Ma'am?" Lee asked his CO who had remained quiet throughout the exchange.

Cameron turned to face the Corporal and gave a somewhat sad nod.

"I know why…"

Before she could continue, the door to the room swung open and two endoskeletons marched in. The men stood and took up flanking positions beside Cameron, even the grouchy Bent who would never allow her to come to harm if he could help it.

A female voice from the darkened corridor outside the door spoke.

"These two will escort your men to their usual accommodations. I'm sure they'll be…comfortable"

Cameron didn't like for one second how the voice had said the word 'comfortable', but she knew it would be pointless to try and resist anything her hosts wanted. She watched as her squad were escorted from the room and the door locked behind them. She turned back to face the darkened doorway and watched as the figure stepped in to the light.

She regarded Cameron up and down with a cold stare while Cameron did the same to her.

"It's nice to see you again Cameron" the voice held almost no warmth.

"Likewise…Savannah"

* * *

**I know there's been very little action (or actual plot) so far in this story. Please stick with it. The second half picks up the action a lot.**


	6. Chapter 5 Life

**Hi,**

**Thanks to reviewers uncommoner, J0hn_Henry, Dragon_Seraphin, olischulu, XxDeathStarxX, Nyrki, meanoldmoe, Rachael, gypsy069, CloudyShadows, Steel_Dragon_64, kaotic2, The1Russter, Nordwest and jojobevco.

* * *

**

"It's nice to see you again Cameron" the voice held almost no warmth.

"Likewise…Savannah"

The two women looked each other up and down again. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Cameron tilted her head at the young woman curiously.

"What are you looking at?" she inquired.

Savannah's eyes continued to scan her up and down as she replied.

"I'm checking to see if you've lost your baby weight yet" the corner of her mouth quirked up playfully, the first sign that this woman wasn't in fact a machine.

"Baby weight?" Cameron asked monotonously.

Almost quicker than Cameron could process it, Savannah had closed the gap between them and threw her arms around her neck.

"I'm trying to say congratulations you idiot" she cooed happily in to Cameron's neck.

"Oh…" Cameron returned the hug and squeezed Savannah tight "…thank you"

After a moment Savannah pulled back from the hug and smiled at her friend.

"I've missed you. You're looking as beautiful as ever"

"Thank you, I've missed you too…" she hesitated for a moment "…what is baby weight?"

Savannah chuckled and guided Cameron out of the room and towards her quarters.

"It's what new mothers have just after they've given birth. It takes them some time to lose all the extra flabbyness from carrying the baby"

Savannah watched as Cameron processed the information. On their way to her quarters, several bare triple eight endoskeletons sidestepped them almost respectfully to allow them to pass. They reached her quarters and stepped inside, shutting the hatch behind them. Almost instantly, two endo's took up guard positions outside the hatch and started scanning the surroundings for any threats.

Once inside, Savannah sat cross legged on her bed and, rather surprisingly, Cameron did the same, mimicking her posture. These meetings were once formal and took place over a conference table. Over the course of the last few years however, they had devolved in to more of a girly chat session. Once the important intelligence updates were out of the way, the pair simply enjoyed each other's company, trading stories and occasionally gossip.

"John seems to think Skynet is regrouping for something big. I have to agree with him, things have been unusually quiet lately"

The two had spent the last half an hour swapping any new intelligence information since their last meeting.

"Hmm, John Henry seems to think the same. How is the new daddy these days?"

A bright smile formed on Cameron's face at the thought of her John.

"He seems…delighted with Abigail. He's always wanted to adopt, to be a father. He's very tired, but he's in a cheerful mood"

Savannah nodded and smiled.

"Good, I'm happy for him, for both of you. How did you end up adopting her?"

"We found her in bunker twenty two after it had been attacked"

"We?"

"My men and I…" Cameron paused while she fondly remembered that day "…Gordon taught me how to hold her. They protected us on our way home"

Savannah's face suddenly turned a little sour.

"Wow, yeah, awesome. Stand up guys" she rolled her eyes just to add to the effect.

Cameron tilted her head and frowned at the continued attitude of her friend towards her squad.

"Why do you dislike my squad Savannah? I understand you don't like humans, but surely they've proven themselves trustworthy by now?"

Savannah stood from the bed and walked over to her very modest dresser, complete with large mirror and took a seat.

"Look, Cameron. I love you…but I hate those guys, they're just your typical soldier rabble. I care for John. I'll always remember the day he taught me how to tie my shoes…" she smiled to herself at the memory "…you know I don't like humans and you know I have a very good reason for that. So please, just let me hate them?"

She pulled a tattered old photograph out from the edge of the mirror frame and looked at it fondly, smiling sadly as she did. The photo was of her ten year old self, sitting on her mother's lap. Savannah had a goofy grin on her face and Catherine Weaver even offered up one of her creepy, crooked, machine smiles for the picture. The photo was taken by John Henry at Savannah's request before Judgement day. She ran her finger over the image of her mother sadly as tears threatened to spill.

Cameron quietly stood from the bed and took up a position behind her. She tentatively laid her hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

"I'm sorry" she offered in her sincerest tone.

Savannah brought her free hand up and placed it over Cameron's.

"It's okay. Could you give me a few minutes please? Your…your men are in their usual quarters"

Taking the hint, Cameron nodded and quietly left the room leaving Savannah on her own. She looked down at the photo again as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"I miss you mom"

* * *

_Oh yeah, she is gonna love this. John Connor you devil._

John sat at his desk with a grin on his face. The type of grin he usually had when the wheels started turning in his brain, signalling a plan being formed. He scribbled down a few quick notes, fully under the impression that his plan was foolproof. He was shook from that idea when Abigail babbled in her bassinet, reminding him that there was more to think about now than just him and his wife.

_Damn, babysitter._

He stood and made his way over to the bassinet where Abigail lay, contentedly kicking her legs in the air and staring wide eyed at the mobile hanging above her. John thought she looked adorable, dressed in a pretty purple dress and diaper. He was fairly confident he'd mastered this fatherhood thing. After all, it wasn't exactly taxing to change the odd diaper and hold a bottle to her mouth every so often. What could possibly go wrong?

He reached in to the bassinet and pulled Abi out. She gave a small whine in protest and stuck her fingers in her mouth.

"Come on Abi, we need to get you a babysitter. Let's go find your Aunt Amy"

She smiled around her fingers and drooled a little in reply. John walked out of his office and the two guards posted outside immediately snapped to attention and saluted. He gave a half hearted salute in reply.

"At ease boys, either of you two know where Amy is?" he asked somewhat hopefully.

"No, sir" came one reply.

"I think I saw her head down towards the civilian tunnels, sir" came the other.

_Wow, talk about a stroke of luck._

"Thank you gentlemen"

After a quick nod, John turned and headed towards the civilian sections of the base. He'd always insisted on all bases being divided roughly half and half between civilians and military. In his mind it promoted the idea of all humans being united against a common foe. Also it allowed civilians to have extended contact with reprogrammed machines, something they wouldn't ordinarily get. It usually worked, humans no longer feared everything made of metal. They'd learned to make the distinction between Skynet, their enemy and machines, their friends. They'd learned that just because someone was made of metal that they weren't instantly their enemy. There were of course a few exceptions to the rule, examples of narrow minded humans causing trouble. But these were becoming less and less frequent as the threat Skynet posed became less apparent.

Casually strolling through the tunnels, John gave a few salutes and several nods to the various different people he encountered. Each one had a different reaction to him. Some stood to attention, others nodded respectfully and a few barely acknowledged him. The one thing they all had in common though was that their eyes dropped to the baby he was carrying in his arms. The daughter of General Connor was a sight that some of them would never see again.

He rounded a particularly crowded corner and picked up the sound of children laughing. In what was a relatively wide open space in the tunnels, ten kids were playing a game of tag, accompanied by high pitched squealing and laughter. He scanned the crowd and saw that Amy was 'it'. Silently wishing the other kids good luck, he moved over to the edge of the arena and sank down to the ground. He sat cross legged with his back to the wall and propped Abigail up on his lap. Her back rested against his stomach as she gawked and drooled at the hive of motion and noise.

* * *

"Stay safe okay"

Savannah clung to Cameron's neck firm enough to strangle a human as she said her goodbyes. She pulled back and kissed her cheek, just at the exact moment that the rest of Purple squad were escorted out from the building by a couple of triple eights.

"Whoa, nice image"

Cameron picked up Bent's remark with her superior hearing and merely frowned at him. She was used to his off colour comments and heard them on a regular basis. Savannah however noticed her expression but couldn't quite make out what he'd said. She turned to him with a sour face.

"What was that?" she asked forcefully, the two guards moving in to a more prominent position beside her.

Bent however wasn't intimidated.

"Oh, nothing at all honey, just uh…" his eyes moved down and back up her body, slowly "…making an observation"

If Cameron hadn't been as fast as she was, Bent would probably have ended up walking home with half his nose missing. Savannah snapped and threw herself at the disgusting soldier. She even carried on her struggle against Cameron, despite knowing full well it was futile.

"Fucking pig" she spat, wildly thrashing her arms in his direction.

The other men saw the two endo's advancing and moved to drag Bent out of their way and towards the main gate. Cameron continued to hold on to a struggling Savannah until she calmed down. Finally she released her and took a step back. A cursory scan revealed her heart was still pounding and her blood pressure was dangerously high.

"God, I fucking hate humans, especially ones like him"

Cameron nodded understandingly.

"He can be…abrasive. I'm sorry"

Savannah shook her head.

"No, it's not your fault. You're one of my best friends, you have nothing to apologise for. It's that asshole I'm pissed with" she said, nodding towards the gate.

"No, he's one of my soldiers. He's my responsibility…I'm sorry"

Savannah took a deep breath and laid her hand on Cameron's shoulder.

"It's okay…" she managed to muster up a smile "…now go. Say hi to John and Mr. Ellison for me, and take good care of Abi"

Cameron nodded and smiled.

"I will"

With that, she turned and marched over to her squad. They were re-issued with their weapons at the gate. Savannah watched as Cameron squared up to Bent. Despite him having a full foot of height advantage on her, he shrank under her intimidating stare, bringing a satisfied smile to Savannah's lips. Eventually Cameron relented and raised her arm as the signal for him to move which he did obediently. Cameron spared one last smile and wave in Savannah's direction and moved to follow her men. Savannah waved back sadly and hugged her arms to her chest before turning around and heading back inside the bunker.

* * *

When the kids had finished their game, Amy was the first to make her way over to John. Eventually the rest of the kids joined them, somewhat shyly. Amy held on to Abigail while the rest of the girls crowded around her to coo and play with her. The boys meanwhile crowded around John and bombarded him with questions about being a soldier and begging him to tell stories about fighting Skynet.

John happily obliged them, recounting several very harrowing encounters and near death scrapes, all very dramatically of course. By the time he was finished, even the girls had stopped their goggle eyed staring at the baby and had joined the boys in listening, enraptured, to his tales. Eventually though, Abi started crying and the kids started moving discreetly away from her, some holding their noses.

He took her back from Amy's arms and held her out at arms length playfully.

"Well, I guess we'd better get you home, stinky"

She stopped crying momentarily to stare at him. For a second he thought she was going to come out with a snarky comment. Instead she settled on crying again and started squirming in his hands. He stood up and looked down at Amy.

"You coming?"

"Yeah, sure"

The three set off towards the military section of the base, Amy following closely behind John, all the while looking at him a little funny.

"What is it?" he asked, as if he could sense her eyes on him.

"I'm just wondering why you came down here in the first place. It's not like you to leave the comfort of the palace"

John smirked a little and brought his free arm down to usher her alongside him.

"Now I know you're joking, so I'll let that one slide missy…" he chuckled at the thought of telling off a Terminator "…I actually came down to find you. I need to ask a favour of you"

"Oh yeah…" she reached out to grab his hand and started swinging it around playfully "…and what might that be General Connor, sir?"

He grinned down at his little friend.

"I need you to babysit. I have something special planned for Cameron and I"

Amy quirked a brow in his direction.

"Why me?"

"Well, Abi seems to like you. That's good enough for me"

"I guess I'm your girl then…I don't know how Cameron will feel about leaving her baby with someone other than you"

That statement caused John to stop in his tracks.

"Hmm…I hadn't thought of that"

* * *

"Are you alright?"

Savannah looked up from her plate of barely picked at food upon hearing the question. For as long as she could remember, she'd always eaten with John Henry. He of course didn't eat, but she always found his presence comforting as he sat and watched her. It was the third time he'd asked that question since she'd sat down and it was starting to get annoying. She looked up to find him staring at her with an expression that was a mixture of curiosity and concern. She set her fork down and pushed the plate to the side and sighed.

"I guess I'm not. Talking with Cameron earlier reminded me of my mother. That guy being a disgusting pig didn't make me feel any better either"

"You still miss your mother?"

She shrugged and looked down at her hands in her lap.

"I do. I know she wasn't really my mother, but she raised me. She's as much my mother as the real Catherine Weaver. I loved her"

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she lowered her head. John Henry watched on as she used her sleeves to wipe her eyes and cried herself out. She looked up at him through moist eyes.

"Do you miss her?" she managed to choke out through the tears.

"She built me. She acquired this body for me to use. In a way, she was my mother too. I would prefer it if she were still functioning"

Savannah nodded her head sadly.

"John Henry, that means you miss her…"

She stood up from the chair and made her way around to his side of the table, his eyes never leaving her as she did. She walked behind him and placed her arms around his neck and her chin on his shoulder, giving him a tight hug. After a moment she pulled back and kissed his cheek before standing up fully.

"Good night John Henry, I love you"

He watched her leave with a sad expression on his face.

"Good night Savannah"

* * *

"All I'm saying is that I don't get why she flew off the handle like that"

Corporal Lee stared sidelong at Bent and the absurdity of his statement.

"Are you kidding me? No wonder nobody likes you, Bent. You've got about as much tact as a damn machine"

He immediately remembered what company he was keeping and quickly tried to recover.

"Uh, no offense intended ma'am"

Cameron let out a very human sounding sigh, but kept her gaze ahead.

"None taken, Corporal"

Bent leaned over closer to Lee so that only they, and of course Cameron, could hear.

"Suck up"

"Bite me" came his swift reply.

As the two continued bickering, Sergeant Gordon sidled up next to Cameron at the head of the group.

"Sooooo…" he glanced over at her while she continued to stare ahead "…what is the deal with Weaver anyway? You looked like you were about to tell us when she came in the room"

She considered telling him what she knew for a brief moment when a glint near a distant piece of debris caught her eye ahead of them. She raised her fist and almost instantly the bickering behind her stopped and the men sprung to attention. She took a moment to perform a detailed scan on the area, a ridge a few hundred feet ahead of them, revealing several heat signatures hiding in amongst the rubble. She flattened her palm out and lowered it towards the ground, kneeling as she did, closely followed by the squad.

As she raised her hand up to display five fingers, a bolt of plasma streaked through the air and smashed in to the ground a metre in front of her. She didn't have time to consider how, what humans called lucky, she was as more plasma hurtled their way. The men scattered to find cover, returning fire as they moved. Gordon and Bent huddled themselves behind a nearby pile of rubble, Harris ducked behind the corner of a nearby building, Lee and Hansen quickly dove behind the remains of a burned out car. None of these items would hold up against plasma fire for very long and they knew it.

Cameron meanwhile had stood and efficiently dispatched two of the attackers while her men were finding cover. Plasma rifles were extraordinarily accurate and her targeting systems were second to none. She fought the urge to follow her Skynet programmed tactics of stand and shoot in favour of the tactics that John preferred she use. Something along the lines of, protect your ass first, and then shoot the bad guys. It was a model that had served him and the resistance well, also Cameron found that she suffered a lot less damage doing things this way. She rolled out of the way of a plasma bolt and ducked behind the same pile of rubble that Gordon and Bent were hiding behind. She pressed the button on her radio headset to speak to the others.

"Three tango's on that ridge. I'll draw their fire. The rest of you, take them out"

The squad gave the universal 'ok' signal with their hands. They were by no means happy about the situation, but they had learned a long time ago that when their commander got an idea in her head there would be no stopping her. The only thing they could do to help her was take down these guys as fast as possible.

Cameron leaped out from behind her cover and gracefully rolled, eventually bringing herself up in to a standing position. The men watched, flabbergasted as she used inhuman speed and grace to dodge every single bolt that flew her way. They all shook out of their trance simultaneously and opened fire on the ridge.

She always did love to dance. It made her feel more detached from her mechanical nature than anything else ever could, even more than the intimacy she shared with John. Dancing was what she considered to be her passion. Whenever she practised, she found herself thanking Skynet for the body it gave her and the movements it was capable of. No other body, be it metal and pistons or bone and muscle could match her grace and fluidity. At this particular moment however she was also thankful for her perfect visual acuity and tactical simulation software. She couldn't keep it up forever, but her movements bought her men the time to take down their attackers.

She was so caught up in trying not to get hit from one direction that she failed to notice the solitary sniper setting up in what used to be a third storey window to her right. She failed to notice him taking aim. She failed to notice him pulling the trigger.

Evidently someone did as she heard a cry of warning. She turned around just in time to see a bolt of plasma streaking towards her chest.

* * *

**This chapter was a bitch to write and I've hated every minute of it. I've been ill with manflu for a couple of weeks and seem to have no energy. So, apologies if it comes across in my writing.**


	7. Chapter 6 Death

**Hi,**

**Thanks to reviewers uncommoner, kaotic2, meanoldmoe, CloudyShadows, The1Russter, J0hn_Henry, Steel_Dragon_64, olischulu, gypsy069, XxDeathStarxX, Nyrki, Dragon_Seraphin, morded and NordWest.

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**

There is a phenomenon that humans involved in near death situations refer to as 'seeing your life flash before your eyes'. While in a human's case, these flashes would be vague and wouldn't include every single memory. In Cameron's case however, the phrase was literally true. When she saw the bolt of plasma energy streaking towards her chest, several things happened. First of all, her tactical systems marked the shooter as a target. Second, the same systems calculated the angle and velocity of the shot and predicted it would strike her breastplate directly above her power source, likely causing irreparable damage. The third thing that happened was that a subroutine activated in her CPU. This program was specially designed by Cameron herself for this very moment. It was designed to activate in the event that only an unforeseen occurrence would prevent her destruction.

The subroutine tapped in to her visual memory and replayed the files she had marked to activate in this event. They ran in chronological order, as you'd expect from a machine. Well, they played in her chronological order, from her activation in 2025, to being sent back in time to 1999, to jumping forward to 2007 and through to the present day in 2033. The majority of the files accessed were of her time spent with John. Mostly the happy times, although she did mark some during the time before he realised his true feelings for her and didn't treat her well. There were some memories of Sarah before she died, memories of Amy and even a couple of Derek, she always did enjoy their little staring contests and the satisfaction she got from beating him every time. Her more recent memories were filled with thoughts of Abigail and how happy she made John. Her playback ended with her most recent pleasant encounter with her friend Savannah.

Despite twenty eight years worth of memories flashing, literally before her eyes, she deemed there to be enough time to spare and a particular memory replayed.

* * *

_The model TOK-715 Terminator opened her eyes to find bright fluorescent lighting glaring back at her. After a moment, her vision filled with the face of a man, a human, her tactical systems informed her. He stared down at her for several seconds, never removing his eyes from hers and she did the same in return. Eventually his lips quirked up a little._

"_Hello"_

_The Terminator tilted her head and replied._

"_Hello"_

_Her head turned from side to side. On her right she saw a desk with computer equipment on it, and to her left an assortment of power tools. She returned her gaze to the man._

"_Where am I?"_

_If anything the man's smile grew._

"_You're in a resistance lab"_

_The machine had very little reaction to the information. Instead she tried to sit up on whatever it was she was currently lying on but found herself unable to do so. She looked back up at the man with a perfectly innocent expression._

"_I can't move…"_

_There was no accusation or confrontational tone in her voice, she simply stated the fact._

"_We had to take precautions and restrain you for the time being"_

_There was a certain gentleness about his voice, as if he were dealing with a child._

"_Why?"_

_The man sighed and deftly changed the subject._

"_Do you know who I am?"_

_The machine tilted her head in the opposite direction while still gazing up at him._

"_You're John Connor"_

"_Yes I am…do you want to kill me?"_

_She didn't hesitate at all before answering._

"_Yes"_

_Rather surprisingly, John calmly nodded._

"_Are you going to?"_

_This time she did hesitate, and even went so far as to avert her gaze._

"_No"_

_John breathed an internal sigh of relief and a tiny smile formed on his lips, only to be quickly removed when she looked at him again._

"_Why not?"_

_Her voice reverted to a typical mechanical tone._

"_The mission objective is being overridden by another section of coding"_

_The warmth returned to her eyes when she'd finished reciting the error._

"_What is this code instructing you to do?"_

"_To protect you"_

_He allowed himself a smile on front of her._

"_Are you going to do that?"_

_This time she didn't hesitate at all and replied immediately._

"_Yes"_

"_Good…" he released the heavy metal restraints and stood back as she sat up on the worktable. He moved slightly closer and placed his fists either side of her legs on the table and examined her for a moment "…now, what do we call you? Do you have a name?"_

_She tilted her head and looked down at her neatly folded hands in her lap._

"_I don't know" she replied honestly._

"_Well that's no good. If you're gonna be my protector I can't just keep saying 'hey you'"_

_Her face scrunched up, causing John to smile again._

"_The name 'heyyu' is not present in my database…could I have another one please?"_

_John wasn't sure if it was the scrunched up face, her lack of understanding or simply the innocent way she asked for a name, but John thought her behaviour was adorable._

"_Okay then, it's not 'heyyu'. You say you have a database of names…" she nodded "…how many female names are in it?"_

"_Two thousand, nine hundred and thirty four"_

"_Okay. What's name number two thousand…five hundred…and nineteen?"_

"_Sarah"_

_John turned a distinctly paler shade and swallowed deeply._

"_Uh, let's choose a different name for you"_

_The machine tilted her head inquisitively._

"_Sarah was the name of your deceased mother. Why do you not wish me to share her name?"_

_John closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. When he opened them, he found her patiently waiting for an answer._

"_Let's just choose a different name…" he smiled and lightened his tone "…what's number…five hundred and twelve?"_

"_Cameron"_

"_Hmm, Cameron. Sounds nice, kinda suits you…what do you think?"_

"_It is acceptable"_

"_Well then…" John pulled back from the table smiling. He held his hand out towards her "…nice to meet you, Cameron"_

_She surprised him when instead of grasping his hand with a grip an olympic arm wrestler would be proud of, she daintily placed her hand in his and allowed him to shake it. What surprised him even more was the tiny smile that formed on her lips. He grinned as he stood up fully, allowing her to get down off the table. She took two steps and gracefully turned around, taking up a position to his side and slightly behind him._

_Little did either of them know, this would be the position she would occupy for the next four years of her life. That was until the day she metaphorically moved to his side and placed her hand in his.

* * *

_

As the file finished playing in her CPU, Cameron's vision returned to normal and was filled with the sight of the plasma bolt. Suddenly she felt her balance shift to the right as an enormous force exerted itself on her left side. Ordinarily such a force wouldn't affect her, however she was thrown off balance by the pirouette she'd performed a moment earlier to avoid a different shot. She clattered to the ground unceremoniously and watched as several shots streaked towards her attacker, ensuring he wouldn't be targeting anyone ever again. She was about to try and stand when she detected a weight on top of her body. She looked down and discovered the weight was a body slumped across her waist.

* * *

"Come on, who's a big girl, you can do it"

"Uh, John? Why are you on the floor?"

John looked up to see Amy hovering above him, looking on curiously. He chuckled as he realised he did look a little ridiculous. Nobody should be seeing the commander of the human race flat on his stomach partaking in some baby talk with his daughter.

"Hi Amy, I'm trying to get her to lift her head"

"Oh…why?"

She moved closer and sat down cross legged next to him. John propped himself up on his elbows and looked sidelong at her. Since she'd spent some time with Abigail recently, Amy's mood certainly had improved. The bright, pretty dresses and pigtails had returned and she seemed to bounce around the base energetically as opposed to the skulking she had been doing recently.

"Because, her body should be getting stronger, starting with her neck. I'm trying to get her to look at me. Come on Abi, look at daddy"

Amy watched as the little girl seemed disinterested in even attempting to look. It seemed to be causing John a great deal of frustration. She had to admit, it was a little odd to see the great, hardened General lying flat on his stomach and talking in such an odd fashion. But according to her research, parents often forgo their appearance and reputation when it comes to their children. Apparently John was no exception.

"Okay. Having any success?"

John sighed and rolled on to his side to look at her.

"Nah, she seems to be more interested in the blanket than in me. It's no problem, I guess I was just hoping she would be able to do it"

Seeing the look of disappointment on his face caused Amy to have the sudden urge to reach out and ruffle his hair like he were a little boy. She managed to restrain herself however and instead moved to lay down beside him.

"Let me try"

John shuffled over a little to give her some room.

"Well, you can try. But if she didn't do it for me, she's not gonna do it for you" he said with a false confidence.

Amy fired off a half smile in his direction before focusing her attention on the squirming baby in front of her.

"Abi, over here. Come on, look at your Aunt Amy"

John watched on with a mixture of delight and annoyance as his daughter craned her tiny neck upon hearing Amy's voice. Delight that she'd done it, annoyance as she always seemed to respond to Amy.

"Oh, there's a good girl" Amy cooed happily.

_Maybe she's slipping her some special baby candy when I'm not looking…nah._

John rolled back on to his stomach and nudged Amy out of the way a little so that he was in Abi's eye line. Almost immediately her head dropped back down to the blanket with a tiny thud and she went back to her exploration of the blanket she lay on. Amy gave a smug grin as John's head followed Abi's to the floor with a distinct thump. When he eventually looked up again he was smiling, albeit an exasperated smile.

"I get it, she's definitely a tease. She could do it all along, but she just wanted to show off in front of you and not her daddy. I'm really in for it when she grows up…" he looked back at Abigail and idly ran a finger through her thin hair "…I wonder what she'll be like" he said distractedly.

Surprisingly, Amy scoffed.

"Are you kidding me? I know exactly what she'll be like. Her parents are in charge of the entire human race…" she paused a moment to let her theory sink in "…she'll be the most spoiled brat on the face of the planet. When that little girl scrapes her knee you'll be ready to get her a pony, every time"

John smirked at first, but it soon became a full blown grin. He returned his gaze to Abi and watched her thoughtfully.

"Yeah, you're probably right"

* * *

John had finally managed to escape from daddy duties for a while. Sure he adored his baby, but every man needs time away, even the great General Connor needs his man time. Unfortunately for him, man time consisted of doing his job. His free time was taken up with his family, leaving only his duties as an alternative. He'd left Abigail in her bassinet after a feed and change and set up an old baby monitor system which he took to the war room with him.

In truth he was glad to be here. He was a little concerned about Cameron who was an hour overdue. While it could be forgiven considering the amount of terrain they had to cover, this was Cameron after all, and she'd never been late for anything if she could avoid it and that meant she'd probably ran in to some trouble. While he was looking at a map of the area distractedly, one of the other soldiers in the room looked up from his monitor.

"Sir"

John shook his head and turned around as he realised he was being addressed.

"Yes Private, what is it?"

"Sir, it looks like Purple Squad is on it's way back, I'm picking up the heat signatures of four humans and one cyborg approaching the South entrance"

"Four? What makes you think it's Purple Squad?"

_Surely there should be five?_

The young man hesitated and looked back at his monitor.

"Um…"

"Yes? What's wrong?"

"Uh sir, there is a fifth signature but it's barely registering. It looks like it's being carried by the machine…" at John's glare, he decided to rephrase his statement "…uh, I, uh, I mean, your wife is carrying the body…sir"

_Dammit._

John didn't hang around to chat. He immediately headed out towards the South entrance, ignoring all the salutes he received on the way, even going so far as to barge his way past a couple of people to expedite his journey. When he arrived, it was just in time to see Cameron lowering the body of Lieutenant Hansen on to the waiting gurney. He sucked in a deep breath as he saw the blank look on her face. She didn't even raise her eyes to meet his as she usually did when she detected his presence, which was always. John watched as the rest of her men joined her around the gurney and shared her expression. One of them had retrieved a sheet and laid it over his body and pulled it up over his head. John's attention was snapped away from the body when he heard his wife's usual strong voice emerge as little more than a whisper.

"Dismissed"

Cameron turned and walked towards John while the men escorted the body of their friend to the infirmary. John couldn't help himself and reached out to try and take his wife in to a hug. She stopped a couple of steps short of him and raised her eyes up to meet his. Instead of flowing in to his arms like John was hoping, she merely sidestepped him and carried on her original course. John turned around and watched her back as she walked away from him and disappeared around a corner, leaving him feeling almost as bad as she did.

* * *

"Good morning Savannah"

John Henry almost always had a cheery disposition about him and mornings were no exception.

"Mornnn"

Savannah's reply was less than cheerful, in fact her whole dishevelled appearance eluded to a sleepless night. She slumped down in the chair opposite him and started picking at her breakfast, prepared by John Henry.

"You didn't sleep well?"

She shook her head with her eyes half closed, her tattered red hair swinging around a little.

"No. I couldn't sleep. Too busy thinking about Cameron"

"Oh, what about her?"

She looked up at his kind face and forced a half smile.

"I guess I was just thinking about her baby…she makes her happy John Henry. A tiny little baby…" she held her hands out about a foot apart for emphasis "…makes a cyborg happy"

She looked down at her hands sadly before withdrawing them and resuming 'eating' her breakfast. John Henry watched with a look of concern on his face, Savannah was usually such a cheerful character despite her surroundings. His advanced processing capabilities quickly came to a conclusion about her behaviour.

"Are you unhappy because Cameron has a baby to look after and you don't?"

For some reason, Savannah always felt like she was an eight year old again whenever she was around John Henry. His inquisitive gaze and annoyingly accurate ideas reminded her of the days early in the war when she looked up to him physically as well as mentally. This time his guess was as accurate as his others, but unwilling to directly admit it, she merely shrugged somewhat childishly.

"Would you like to go and see Cameron's baby?"

Savannah's eyes widened as she processed what she'd just been asked. Slowly raising her head, she looked up at John Henry with a quirked brow and a tiny smile.

"Well…maybe…"

Her grin slowly crept further up her face. She picked up her fork and started digging in to her breakfast properly this time, but not before standing up and giving John Henry a quick peck on the cheek.

He watched her tuck in to her food with his own crooked grin, gently touching the spot where she'd kissed him.

* * *

Since Cameron's return, John had parked himself back in the war room for a coupe of hours before discreetly slipping away in search of his wife. He knew she'd need a little bit of space for a while. It certainly was an odd characteristic of hers that when she was upset, she did what guys usually do and closed herself off and disappeared somewhere. He made his way to their quarters and pulled the hatch open, idly saluting the two guards outside. He shut and secured the door behind him before looking in to the room for the first time.

_Well, at least I found her._

John stood for a moment to take in the sight. Cameron lay on her side on their bed with her head resting in the crook of her elbow and her hand stretched out in front of her face. She'd also propped Abigail up on her side with a pillow facing her while she supported her head with her outstretched hand. He watched as Cameron idly placed a finger from her free hand in Abi's palm and watched it reflexively close and grasp tight hold. She used her thumb to caress her tiny knuckles and smiled sadly.

John sighed and slowly walked over to the bed. Gently laying down behind her, he wrapped an arm securely around her waist and placed his palm flat on her abdomen, slowly rubbing in small circles.

"She's so small…"

John sat up at the sound of his wife's whisper like voice and peered over her at his daughter. He reached out and did the same as she was doing and placed his finger in Abigail's other hand. He leaned down and placed a kiss on Cameron's cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Yeah, she is…are you alright?"

She removed her finger from Abigail's grasp and grazed her cheek with the back of her fingernail. Cameron smiled as she tried to latch on to her finger with her mouth. She allowed her to do so and analysed the sensation as she tried to suckle on her fingertip.

"So fragile…"

John sat up properly and retrieved his hand from Abi's grasp, earning a small whimper of disapproval. He reached down and caressed Cameron's cheek with the back of his knuckles.

"Hey, you're starting to scare me. What's going on in that big, beautiful CPU of yours?"

He smiled to try and take the tension out of the room. When she didn't reciprocate he grew deeply concerned. He studied her face, she seemed to be transfixed by Abigail's movements.

"This was a bad idea" she stated suddenly.

_Huh?_

"What do you mean?"

For the first time since he'd entered the room and lay down, Cameron tore her gaze away from her daughter and looked up at him.

"I was almost terminated today John. We shouldn't have adopted Abi. You were right, we're at risk every day, it's not fair to her"

She looked back at the baby who was still contentedly sucking on her finger while staring wide eyed at her mommy. John sighed and laid his chin on her upper arm.

"Let me tell you a story my mom told me Cameron…" he waited a moment to make sure she was listening "…She once told me about my great grandfather who fought in World War two. But the thing is that my grandmother was born in nineteen thirty eight. He had a one year old baby girl to care for, but he was a soldier. He was torn between going to war for his country, and the desire to stay home and look after his daughter, my grandmother. He loved that little girl so much that he even considered resigning from the forces so that he could be there for her…"

He slowly moved his hand up and down her side lovingly.

"…You know the reason he didn't do it? My great grandmother wouldn't let him. She said to him, 'you are going to go, and you're going to win this war…and then you're gonna come back to me and her'. Now I'm gonna say the exact same thing to you. We are going to go out there, we're going to find Skynet and end this war, and then we're both going to come back home to her…"

He withdrew his hand from her body and placed it instead protectively on Abigail's body who looked dwarfed by it.

"…I know you love her Cameron, I do too. She needs her mommy, so you are not going to die you hear me?"

He looked down at her and waited for a reaction. He got it when she rolled over towards him and gazed up at his face.

"Your logic may be flawed…but thank you"

John had always had the ability to inspire and motivate people. Apparently he also had the ability to create faith in his cyborg wife too. He stared down at her beautiful face before leaning down and placing a soft, tender kiss on her lips. He pulled back to see a tiny smile form.

"You look tired John"

He smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I am. It's about time for you to get some sleep too isn't it?"

"Yes, I'm coming up to seventy two active hours…" she looked over at Abi who had drifted off to sleep with her finger still in her mouth "…what about her?"

John looked over to his baby and a smile formed on his face.

"She can sleep with us tonight"

Her eyes widened, probably at the thought of crushing her and leaving her totally unattended.

"But…" she started to protest until he cut her off.

"Ah, ah, none of that. It's normal for babies to sleep in their parents bed with them. She'll be fine without you for three hours"

Cameron rolled back over and carefully removed the pillow out from beneath Abi and rolled her flat on her back. She shuffled closer and laid a protective arm around her. John meanwhile did the same and cuddled up to Cameron's back, snaking a protective arm around her.

"Good night Cameron"

"Good night John…good night Abi"

John smiled as she closed her eyes and went in to standby. He did the same a moment later and drifted off to sleep, happy in the knowledge that his family was safe.

* * *

**You can blame the delay in releasing this on Dekardkain. I've been too busy discussing his stoopid story to work on my own! ;)**

**Thanks go to him and also ElusiveSanity for helping me out with certain aspects of this chapter.**


	8. Chapter 7 Love

**Hi,**

**Thanks to reviewers The1Russter, Steel_Dragon_64, olischulu, XxDeathStarxX, J0hn_Henry, kaotic2, gypsy069, xxshyangel29xx, morded, lee443, NordWest, Dragon_Seraphin, CloudyShadows and Nyrki.**

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"Haaaaaaaaa"

John looked down as a propped up Abigail let out a happy sounding sigh. Of course she was happy, she'd been fed, changed and burped, the baby trifecta. He reached around and gently tickled her belly while he held her favourite bear out in front of her, shaking it every now and again. He looked up with a smile on his face at the sight that held his attention before her little outburst. His smile slowly faded as he watched Cameron running a brush through her hair. If it was possible to perform almost any action solemnly, Cameron had certainly practised this one before.

She sat at John's desk with a small mirror set up on the surface. Methodically stroking the brush through her long chocolate brown hair, each of her movements seemed almost sad by her standards. John tucked one hand underneath Abigail's bottom and wrapped the other securely around her belly as he stood and walked over to his wife. He turned around and perched himself on the edge of the desk, slightly to the side of her eye line to the mirror. He held Abigail on his leg and leaned her back against his stomach so that both her husband and daughter could see her.

Looking up from the mirror, she spared a half smile for her family before refocusing on her task. As John watched, he examined her movements. This was definitely not his Cameron as he knew her. Every subtle sign of the woman he loved seemed to be hidden beneath several sombre layers. Gone was the twinkle in her eyes that only he could see, replaced by a dullness he'd only seen once before. When she went bad on his sixteenth birthday. Not wanting to be reminded of that day, he moved his eyes over the rest of her. She'd donned a black leather jacket that had somehow survived judgement day along with a pair of dark BDU pants. She hadn't indulged in any make up and John could have sworn that even the diamond in her wedding ring seemed to sparkle less than usual.

Eventually he couldn't stand it any more, he had to do something to try and lighten her mood.

"You're gonna do fine today, you know that right?"

She replied with another half hearted smile, making John's heart melt a little.

"Cameron, look at me"

She pulled the brush down to the bottom of her stroke and placed it carefully on the desk. She slowly raised her eyes up to meet his. Staring in to his eyes, she saw only the kindness and warmth that had made her fall in love with him in the first place.

"Just remember, your family will be there, and we'll be supporting you from front and centre. Won't we Abi?"

Cameron's eyes dropped to her baby just in time to see a glob of drool just about to drip from her chin. With inhuman speed and accuracy she reached out and caught it before it made contact with the pant leg of John's dress uniform. He looked down and couldn't help but smile.

"I'll take that as a yes then sweetheart" he said, chuckling.

Cameron wiped the drool from her hand on a nearby baby blanket and used it to dry off Abi's chin. While gently taking hold of her hand, she once again looked up at John with a sad, half smile. He let out a defeated sounding sigh and leaned towards her. He placed his hand on the back of her head and gently kissed her forehead.

"I love you, okay, we love you. Always remember that"

* * *

"…we shall remember those who have fallen, today and always, amen"

The chorus of "Amen" rang around the makeshift chapel. Some people said a few more quiet words of prayer, others crossed themselves, but two of the rooms occupants did none of those things. Cameron remained in her stoic position and Abigail merely went wide eyed and squirmed in her arms at the sudden noise all around her. Amy, rather curiously also crossed herself and said a few quiet words of prayer. The sight of Cameron entering the chapel caused a few mutterings and whispers which were silenced immediately by an icy glare from John, Amy however seemed to enter unnoticed, almost as if she'd been there before.

The elderly priest, one of the few remaining from before judgement day, raised his bowed head and looked out over the small gathering. His eyes eventually found their way to the front row.

"Now, the XO has a few words she'd like to share"

He nodded towards Cameron and she stood, gently handing Abigail to John. Taking the few short steps up to the podium, John could have swore she looked almost nervous. When she reached the podium, she carefully placed her palms on top of it but kept her head lowered, avoiding the gaze of the crowd. She started speaking in a quiet voice.

"I hear the things some of you say about me. I heard the things you said when I entered the room with my family. No, I do not believe in God, but I do believe in some things. I believe in the goodness of men…"

She raised her head for the first time, her eyes immediately seeking out John with Abigail in his arms.

"…Lieutenant Hansen was quite possibly the quietest human I've ever had the pleasure of knowing…"

Her gaze shifted to the fallen soldier's squad mates on the opposite side of the room to John and she even managed to coax a smile out of herself.

"…We once joked that it was easier getting a conversation out of a triple eight who's missing its chip…"

A small chorus of chuckles sounded from a few people, especially from Gordon, Harris, Lee and Bent. Cameron looked back down at the podium before she continued.

"…The man sacrificed his life to save me…I thought my time was up, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. I have him to thank for giving my daughter the chance to grow up with a mother. I have him to thank for giving me the chance to continue to live. I owe him my life…"

She looked up and scanned every face in the room, finally coming to rest on John's smiling, supportive face.

"…I shall be eternally grateful to Charles Hansen, and I will ensure that he is never forgotten"

She stepped down from the podium and silently resumed her seat next to John. He reached over and gently tangled his fingers with hers and felt her squeeze in reply.

* * *

"Th, they failed sir"

"What do you mean failed?"

"They missed, or rather one of her squad threw himself in front of her"

"Isn't that sweet…Alright, send the signal"

"Y, yes sir"

"Never send a human to do a Terminator's job"

* * *

"John, you are aware that if I wanted to I could see through your hands"

"Yeah, I know"

"I also know the exact layout of this base and the route we've taken"

"I know"

"Then what are you doing?"

What he was doing was walking, or rather waddling behind Cameron while trying awkwardly to keep his hands over her eyes.

"I'm trying to keep it a surprise, so would you keep your eyes shut and just go with it?"

"If it's what you want, I'll go along with it"

They took a few more steps before she stopped abruptly and John barrelled in to the back of her.

"I don't like this John, what about Abi?"

John sighed and kept his hands over her eyes. He looked at her face as she turned it towards him. He thought she looked adorable with his hands over her eyes while she continued to act as if they weren't there.

"I've already told you, Amy's looking after her. Don't worry, she'll be fine"

After a few seconds hesitation, Cameron turned her head back to point in the direction they were currently facing.

"Proceed"

John chuckled lightly, causing her to turn her head again.

"Yes, your Highness"

He shuffled forward and she took the hint to start walking. Eventually they arrived at a door in a deserted area.

"There's a door in front of you, the handle is on the right, open it"

Cameron did as instructed and found the handle on the first try as you'd expect and the door swung open. They stepped inside, still with his hands on her eyes. Once inside, he kicked the door closed.

"Now, a guy down in stores owes me a favour or two. I've managed to get us to the top of the queue for some new stuff he found"

"Stuff?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Let's just say it'll change a few things around here…" he removed his hands from her eyes and stepped beside her "…open your eyes"

She opened her eyes, scanned the room and almost immediately whirled around to face her husband.

"What is…"

She was silenced by John kissing her firmly, placing his hand on the small of her back and tilting her backwards slightly. He broke the kiss and she looked up at him.

"Happy anniversary Cameron"

He lowered his head and kissed her tenderly, bringing his free hand up to tangle in her hair. She reluctantly broke the kiss when she detected a loss of balance in her servo's. After all these years she still hadn't solved the problem of her losing her motor controls whilst in his embrace. Taking in to account the precarious position she currently occupied, she regained control just in time to prevent a nasty fall which would obviously kill the mood slightly. Seeing his disappointment, she smiled up at him before standing up fully and turning to examine the room again.

"Don't tell me you forgot about our anniversary"

"I didn't, but you normally don't put this much effort in to the occasion"

He moved behind her and snaked his arms around her waist and brought his chin down to rest on her shoulder.

"I know, but this is our twentieth anniversary Cameron. I would completely fail the man test if I didn't do something special for you"

Cameron leaned her head against his while she continued to look at the room.

"But this isn't really for me is it?"

"Well, no. But I'm sure you'd appreciate it more than some sort of half assed second honeymoon idea"

"I guess"

He stood up fully and turned her around to face him.

"Listen, I uh, I did have something else planned, that's why Abi's with Amy. But I thought that given what's happened recently that, uh, this might be a nicer surprise"

She looked down at the thought of her friend, but then she felt a finger under her chin, gently but insistently pushing it back up. She smiled up at John while she took hold of his hand and pressed his knuckles to her lips.

"Thank you"

She resumed kissing his fingers lovingly, working her way to his palm, eventually pulling him down by his shirt for a smouldering kiss. She poured the emotions from the last few days in to the kiss, as if it was going to be the last time she ever did it. She never wanted to let him go, and he responded in kind, his tongue entwining with hers as if his life depended on it. His hand found its way to her backside and he gave it a firm squeeze at the same time that she nestled a hand in his hair and gave it a not so subtle tug. She wanted him and she needed him, NOW. But he had other ideas when he broke the kiss and pulled back, taking in the sight of her disappointment and of her lips still sucking on nothing but air.

"Whoa, there'll be plenty of time for that later…" he said breathlessly as she pouted "…now, why don't you take a look around while I go get your other surprise"

He kissed her again before slipping out of the room with a grin. She turned back to the room and marvelled at what John had accomplished without her knowledge. She made a mental note to keep a closer eye on him in the future. She'd been wondering why he'd guided her almost halfway round the base only to arrive back next door to their quarters, it had seemed frivolous and illogical until now. She slowly and carefully stepped around the room, running a hand along the odd object that piqued her interest until she finally came to stop beside the crib in the middle of the room. Stopping to run her hand along the wooden poles, she once again looked around, simply to drink in the sight of Abigail's new nursery.

* * *

"Savannah, are you ready to leave"

"Yeah, I'll just be a minute"

John Henry watched from the door as savannah applied the finishing touches to her makeup. She'd even gone to the trouble of washing and curling her hair, earning herself a curious stare from John Henry that she caught sight of in the mirror.

"What?"

"You are taking extra care in your appearance" he observed.

"Well, I wanna look my best" she said in an obvious tone.

"But the child is a month old. It hasn't developed enough to know who you are, let alone know that you look pretty for him"

She smiled and stood before walking over to him and flicking her scarlet hair over her shoulder playfully.

"Pretty?" she asked shyly.

If John Henry were human he surely would've blushed.

"Yes, pretty" he gave her one of his trademark crooked smiles and she did in fact blush noticeably.

"Thank you" she said in a small voice.

"If there's one thing I've learned from caring for you for the last twenty years it's that you like being told how pretty you are"

She smiled and tucked her chin in to her chest shyly before looking back up at him.

"Yeah I do, you're so smart John Henry. Now come on, I wanna go see a cute baby"

* * *

"Oh, aren't you a little cutie"

Amy cooed at Abigail as she enjoyed some tummy time with the baby, watching as she craned her head up to look at her. The look was completed with a gummy smile. After a few times of looking up however, Abi quickly grew tired and stopped responding to Amy's coaxing. Sighing, she rolled Abi over on to her back and lay down beside her. Grabbing her nearby teddy bear, she held it above her and watched as her tiny hands grabbed on to it and didn't let go.

Their playtime was interrupted however when Cameron unceremoniously burst in to the room and immediately moved to the large closet where she started rummaging around for something. Amy watched her, fascinated at the unusual fluster she was showing. She looked down at Abi before moving to lay down on the opposite side of her so that she could see Cameron over the top of the baby.

"Look Abi, there's mommy. Isn't it so nice of her to say hello?"

She looked pointedly at the closet where Cameron still hadn't emerged from. She did however speak from behind the door.

"Hello Amy. How's my baby behaving?"

Amy reached over and tickled Abi's belly, causing a wide grin to appear on her face.

"Oh she's fine…Abi's fine too by the way"

Suddenly Cameron's head poked out from around the closet door with a blank expression.

"I was referring to her"

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the head was withdrawn from her view. Amy rolled her eyes and leaned in closer to the baby who was currently trying to eat her bear.

"Isn't mommy silly, Abi? No sense of humour…What are you doing in there anyway?"

"Preparing John's anniversary surprise"

"Oh…in the closet?" Amy asked sceptically.

Cameron stepped out from the closet and walked over to the blanket where her daughter and her friend currently lay.

"Yes, I've been changing" she stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Amy drew her eyes down her body and back up, her face scrunching up in confusion as she did. A scan confirmed she was wearing the exact same outfit as she had been when she first came in to the room.

"Uh, no you didn't"

Surprisingly, Cameron merely kneeled down next to her baby and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"You be a good girl for Amy"

Abi looked up at her mommy and gurgled, blowing small bubbles as she did. Cameron leaned back down and kissed her again before standing up and heading towards the door. Before leaving however, she looked back over her shoulder and winked at a dumbfounded Amy.

* * *

John returned to the nursery to find Cameron with her back to the door and running her hand along the top rail of the crib in the centre of the room. He quietly closed the door behind him, placed what he was carrying down on the changing table and made his way over to her, snaking his hands around her waist and placing his chin on her shoulder.

"Just think, our baby will grow up in this room" he kissed her shoulder softly, slowly making his way higher up her neck with each kiss.

"It's perfect…" she pulled out of his grasp and turned around to face him "…how did you do it?"

"Well, I said the guy in stores owed me a favour or two…" he gestured to the freshly wallpapered walls "…he found a few rolls of this stuff. Charley and James helped me hang it, it's nice don't you think?"

Cameron looked around as she scanned the pale blue wallpaper with cloud patterns. It reminded her of John's bedroom in their old house and the walls quite obviously intended for someone half his age.

John looked down and found that she'd discovered the other favour he'd called in.

"I also see you've noticed the carpet…" he also noticed that she'd painted her toe nails a deep shade of red as they nestled in the white furry carpet "…you like?"

Cameron looked down and wiggled her toes.

"I do, it feels…interesting…" she looked up and past him to notice the small tub he'd been carrying "…is that my surprise?" she asked, all together too innocently for John's taste.

"Uh, yeah, why don't you take a seat and I'll go get it"

John walked over to the changing table, he looked over his shoulder to see Cameron crossing her legs and sinking gracefully to the floor. She looked at him with an almost eager smile on her face. He picked up the tub and brought it back to her, carefully planting himself opposite her on the floor. He pulled the lid off and her eyes went wide.

"How did…"

"Hey, I'm John Connor. Plus it's amazing what you can do with some milk, sugar, chocolate and a little liquid nitrogen…" he reached in to his pocket and pulled out two spoons, handing one to her "…bon appétit"

"John, this is…"

"Oh wait, I forgot about this…" he reached behind him and produced a full bottle of chocolate sauce "…thank God for freezers"

He proceeded to turn the bottle upside down and drizzle the gooey liquid all over the ice cream, watching as Cameron's eyes bulged at the sight. When he'd poured almost half the bottle over the top of the ice cream, he set it down and looked up to find Cameron staring at him with soft eyes.

"I love you John Connor"

John couldn't help but grin in reply.

"I love you too…now shut up and eat, I tried to get it as chocolatey as possible."

The pair dug in to their ice cream, surprisingly with Cameron consuming more than John. Even going so far as to have a mini spoon fight towards the end for who earned the right to eat the last few drops. Cameron inevitably won and grinned like a child when she consumed the last of it. John couldn't help but chuckle at her antics.

"Did you enjoy that, Princess?"

"Very much, thank you John…now, it's time for your present…" she sensually licked the spoon clean before leaning over and kissing him, softly and teasingly "…close your eyes"

John licked his lips, tasting the last of the chocolate before complying and closing his eyes with a wide grin on his face. Cameron stood and silently slipped her jacket off, quickly followed by her shirt. As quietly as she could, she unbuckled her belt and allowed her pants to drop to the floor. Carefully gathering them up, she placed them off to the side before laying down on her side opposite John. She propped her head up on her hand and brought one knee over and in front of the other. Giving her hair a quick flick over her shoulder, she looked at John who still sat with his eyes closed.

"Happy anniversary John"

John opened his eyes and his jaw hit the floor. There was his wife, laying on her side, wearing nothing but a lacy red bra and panties. His eyes trailed along her body, starting with her feet, up her long legs to the slightly hidden panties. He noted the colour was a perfect match to that of the nail polish.

_Huh, so she really did have something planned._

John shook his head to clear his pointless thoughts and refocused on the sight in front of him. His eyes moved slowly over the feminine curves of her hips and waist before reaching her chest. She distracted his attention by idly playing with the bra strap on her left shoulder. His gaze settled on her beautiful face and her gorgeous, shy smile. He was so distracted by her beauty that he failed to register her sitting up and slowly crawling towards him, her eyes locked on his. She straddled his lap and kissed him deeply and passionately. He moved a hand up to her back when she pulled away from the kiss. She looked down at his confused face and bit her lip.

"John…"

He moved his mouth to try and make some words come out. After a deep swallow and several attempts he finally managed to squeak some noise out of his suddenly parched throat.

"Yeah?"

She turned her head to the left and he followed her gaze, his eyes snapping back to hers when he realised what she was gesturing towards.

"The bottle of chocolate sauce isn't empty yet"

* * *

**I can hear you all screaming, 'noooooo, please Bew, don't leave it there'. Well I hear you. If I receive enough encouragement/pleading/begging I may be tempted to write an M-rated one off smutfest of what happened next. ;)**


	9. Chapter 8 Family

**Hi,**

**Thanks to reviewers meanoldmoe, uncommoner, Dragon_Seraphin, TK-MR, olischulu, The1Russter, J0hn_Henry, Steel_Dragon_64, CloudyShadows, Nyrki, Nordwest, XxDeathStarxX, anonymous, gypsy069 and kaotic2.**

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* * *

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"Shhhh, you don't wanna be found do you?"

Abigail and her best friend Stacey huddled together in their hiding spot, trying desperately not to be found by the thing that was currently hunting them. They'd been like this for nearly two minutes, trying desperately to avoid detection, the odd shiver running up and down their spines.

Abi and Stacey had been best friends for a little over a year from when they met on their first day of school. They were born around the same time and both happened to be brought to the small room that passed for a school on the same day. John and Cameron had gently nudged her, clutching her favourite brown bear towards the other girl of a similar age in the class and the two had hit it off almost instantly. They sat together that first day in class and had been pretty much inseparable since. Now they huddled together in their cramped hiding spot, trying in vain not to make any noise for fear of being caught.

A shadow passed by the door momentarily blocking out the light. Both girls clutched each other tighter and held their breaths, a soft whimper emanating from Stacey's lips causing the shadow to return and once again block out their light.

Suddenly their rather flimsy cover was unceremoniously thrown to the side with a crash. The girls screwed their eyes shut and held each other tighter. Abigail was the first to open her eyes to the sight of combat boots spread about shoulder width apart. Her eyes raised up over a pair of long legs, up over a lean body and finally settled on the face of her smiling mother, Cameron.

"Found you"

A dual chorus of 'Awwww' sounded from the two girls below her as they climbed out from the closet they'd been hiding in for the last one hundred seconds.

"Mommy…' Abi pouted '…how come you can always find us?"

Cameron smiled and helped her daughter and her friend to their feet. She dropped down to one knee and started brushing the dirt off the back of her dress with her hand.

"I heard you whispering from my counting spot against the wall"

Abigail petulantly stamped her foot and glared at her mother.

"That's not fair, you promised you wouldn't use your special stuff. You cheated" she accused.

Cameron froze her hand mid swipe and raised her eyes to stare at her daughters face. Stacey meanwhile looked on, all the while thinking 'oh oh, she's in trouble'. Abigail, to her credit, refused to wilt under her mother's intense stare, she was used to it after all.

After a moment, the corner of Cameron's mouth twitched upwards and she resumed cleaning her daughter.

"I don't like losing"

Stacey chuckled slightly and Abi stamped her foot again.

"But Moooooooo…"

Cameron cut her off mid word and turned to face her friend.

"Stacey, I believe it's your turn to count and our turn to hide"

Stacey's eyes lit up and she turned to run off to the designated counting spot when she heard someone call her name from across the room.

"Stacey come on, it's time to go home"

She bounded over to her mother and was instantly greeted with a hug from one knee.

"Did you have fun today?"

Stacey pulled back from the hug and started talking a million miles an hour about her day.

"…and we were playing hide and seek a minute ago"

By this point, Cameron had scooped Abi up in to her arms and was slowly approaching the mother and child.

"Oh, who's we? You mean you, Abi and John?"

She was startled by a soft voice from above her.

"No, she means her, Abi and myself…"

The woman looked up to find Cameron looming over her with Abi perched securely on her hip with her arms clinging to her neck. The sweet smile on the machines faces only served to deepen her initial uncomfortableness. Warily, she scooped Stacey up in to her arms and held her protectively away from Cameron.

"…Nice to see you again Jane" Cameron reached out her hand in a friendly gesture and if anything her smile grew just that little bit sweeter.

Jane tentatively reached out and shook the woman's hand, for sheer courtesy if nothing else. She examined the woman who still appeared to be no older than eighteen and the small child who happily clung to her neck. It deeply disturbed her that a machine created by their enemy was treating this child as her own and that the little girl gave no thought as to who she called her mommy. Her eyes returned to the machine in question who seemed to be waiting for her response.

"Uh, I, uh, I thought that John was looking after the girls today?"

Cameron nodded politely and shifted Abi up higher on her hip.

"No, John was called away on important business…is that a problem?"

Jane hesitated noticeably and her voice quivered and cracked when she spoke.

"Uh, no…of course not, uh, Cameron"

Cameron of course noticed the humans nervousness but dismissed it as being the normal reaction she received from the few civilians she knew. However she was pleased to note that this one referred to her by her actual name rather than some unpleasant alternatives she'd picked up over the years.

"Good. We've had a fun filled day, haven't we girls?"

Both Abi and Stacey nodded vigorously against their respective parents shoulders and giggled at the memories.

"We played hide and seek, Aunt Cammy is really good at it" Stacey informed her mother happily.

"Yeah, but mommy cheated…" Abi aimed a prod firmly at her mothers cheek and giggled when Cameron pretended to try and bite it "…she used her special stuff to find us"

"Special stuff?" Jane inquired of Abigail.

Before she could answer her however, Stacey chimed in.

"Yeah, she can hear everything and I think sometimes she can see through walls" Stacey giggled happily until she caught the look her best friend was giving her. It wasn't exactly a secret that Cameron was in fact a cyborg, but she didn't really appreciate it when it was pointed out. Jane, not seeing the shared glances made a comment by way of conversation.

"Well, yeah, I guess it was what she was designed for" looking up, she caught sight of Cameron's eyes glowing a bright blue before immediately returning to their usual chocolate brown. Jane didn't realise just how much her comment had hurt Cameron, but she should have based on the sudden shift in Cameron's tone.

"Nice to see you Jane, goodbye Stacey"

With that, she turned and walked away.

Abigail noticed her mothers sudden change in mood and looked at her with a concerned expression on her face.

"Mommy, are you okay?" she inquired.

"Yes. It's past your bed time"

She left no room for argument as she picked up her pace through the base. Several soldiers snapped off brisk salutes in her direction which she didn't bother to return. She carried on straight towards Abigail's bedroom and didn't slow down until she got there. Once inside, she closed and locked the hatch behind her. The bedroom which was once her nursery still had the cloud patterned wallpaper and the fluffy carpet, only now it had a lived in appearance to it, the kind that five years of infancy brings. She set Abi down in the middle of the room and walked over to the closet. Abi watched from the position she'd been put in as her mother rummaged around in one of the drawers and pulled out her favourite pair of pyjamas, they were purple, she liked purple.

Cameron walked back over and kneeled down in front of her. She unbuttoned the back of her dress and carefully pulled it over her head. She rolled up and held the legs of her pyjama pants open for her to step in. While all this was going on, Abi's eyes never left her mother's focused face.

"Mommy…" Cameron looked up from pulling her pants up her legs and stared at her with a blank face "…are you mad at me?"

Cameron stopped adjusting the waistband of the pyjamas and looked at her daughter with a mixture of curiosity and surprise.

"No…" she stated firmly before softening both her features and her voice "…why do you say that?"

Abigail shrugged "Because you're all quiet and you're not smiling any more…you only do that when I've been naughty"

Cameron picked up the pyjama shirt and set about rolling up the sleeves.

"Abi, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Jane. She said something that hurt me"

"Words can hurt?"

Cameron stopped what she was doing and looked up at her daughter with a sad expression on her face.

"Yes…they can"

Abigail looked at her mother's sad face and gazed down as she absently fiddle with her shirt.

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"Can words make you better?"

"Yes, they can"

Abigail scrunched up her face, clearly not convinced.

"How?"

For the first time since their encounter with Stacey's mother, Cameron smiled. It wasn't that she was upset about her machine nature being pointed out. It was the comment about her using her 'special stuff' to hunt for their children. Jane was clearly uncomfortable with her daughter spending any time with her. Cameron wanted Abigail to have as normal a life as possible, and that included having friends and doing what normal five year old girls do. However her worry was that she was in fact the main hindrance to that ever happening, other parents would never truly accept her being around their kids or entrusting her with their safety. Abi had never hosted a sleepover although she always wanted to. Other kids not being allowed was always the main reason for it never going ahead. Now as she looked at her daughter and saw the look of sheer dependance and concern on her face, her worries almost instantly disappeared.

"Well, the first time your daddy told me he loved me, I felt very happy. Before that I wasn't a very happy person, your daddy changed that. Arms up"

Abigail dutifully raised her arms above her head so that Cameron could gently slip first one sleeve over her hand and then the other. She then poked her head up through the top and she pulled it down before tucking it in to her pants. To her eternal annoyance however, Abi simply rolled her eyes and pulled the shirt out from the pants, she hated being tucked in and earned herself an impatient stare from her mother. Cameron ended up settling her hands on Abi's hips, but not before brushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face and tucking them behind her ear. Meanwhile Abi had been considering her words.

"Mommy…" she threw her arms around her neck and mumbled in to Cameron's shoulder "…I love you. Are you happy again now?"

Cameron smiled and slowly snaked her arms around her little girls back and gave her a very gentle squeeze.

"I am now, thank you…" she pulled back and kissed Abi's forehead "…I love you too. Now, it's bed time"

"But I…"

"Ah, ah, no buts, come on, bedtime" Cameron turned her around and patted her backside to nudge her towards the bed before standing and following her. She pulled back the covers and watched as Abi sat on the edge of the bed. She retrieved a hairbrush from the nightstand and sat down on the bed behind her and started pulling the brush through her now tatty long brown locks. She carried out each stroke with the precision she set about every task, ensuring that every strand came in to contact with the hairbrush. When she was almost done, Abi spoke.

"Mommy, can you read me a story?"

"Not tonight, it's past your bedtime"

"Pleeeeeeeeease?"

No matter how hard she tried to deny it, the little girl currently pouting and pleading with her over her shoulder definitely had an influence on her systems that she couldn't control.

"Okay"

"Could we have Cinderella?"

"Of course…" Cameron stood and walked back over to the closet and set the hairbrush down. She retrieved a large and tattered book with no writing on the cover and no actual writing inside. She'd always told Abigail that it was a magic book that only Mommy's could read. She would sit and flip the pages while accessing the stories from her database. To this day Abigail still believed her, and John thought it was possibly the cutest thing he'd seen Cameron do besides singing to her when she was a baby.

She perched herself down on the edge of Abi's bed where she'd already climbed under the covers. Cameron made sure she was tucked in properly before opening the book and reciting the story from her memory file.

"…Once upon a time, there lived an unhappy young girl…"

"…So Cinderella married the prince and they lived happily ever after"

Cameron closed the book gently and looked over at Abigail who was now sound asleep and had been for ever since the pumpkin turned in to a carriage. For some reason however, Cameron felt compelled to finish the story, it made her feel, normal.

She leaned over and placed a tiny kiss on Abi's forehead before standing up and quietly leaving the room, switching off the light as she left.

"Good night Abi"

* * *

The morning after one's anniversary, one should not have to be awoken by an eager young Private banging on the door as hard as he can. Unfortunately, this was John Connor and such is the territory of being the leader of mankind. Every day was a brand new emergency. He couldn't have woke up in his wife's loving arms, oh no, he had to have a loud metallic 'bang, bang, bang' for an alarm clock.

"Ugh, can you get that?" he mumbled in to Cameron's bare chest where they lay in a heap on the floor.

"You'll have to let go of me first" she pointed out.

John let out a groan of disapproval and rolled away from her, peeling his sticky, sweaty skin away from hers in the process. John watched through half open eyes as Cameron effortlessly stood and picked up her red panties from the night before and slipped them on. She also picked up John's shirt and pulled it over her head, it settling high on her thigh, just about covering her panties. She calmly strolled over to the entrance and pulled the hatch open just a crack so she could see who it was that demanded her husbands attention. She peered out and her facial recognition software instantly matched Private Stevens shuffling nervously from one foot to the other.

"Yes Private, what do you need?"

The young man averted his eyes at the General's wife's state of undress and cleared his throat nervously.

"Uh ma'am, we've detected a force heading our way"

"Skynet?"

"We don't think so ma'am. There are twenty one triple eights…and one human"

Cameron took a moment to consider before nodding.

"Are there twenty bare endoskeletons and one skinned and clothed triple eight?"

"Uh, yes"

"Is the human a female in her early thirties, 5 feet 8 inches tall?"

"Ma'am?"

"Is the group holding station just inside our weapons range but not advancing or threatening?"

"Yes, how did you…"

"One of us will attend the war room momentarily"

Stevens nodded politely and then raced off, leaving Cameron to close the hatch. When she turned back to face John, she was taken by surprise when he forcefully pushed her against the hatch with a clang with his lips pressed against hers, pinning her in place with a hand either side of her head on the hatch. She always relaxed her internal components' resistance whenever she was alone with either John or Abigail or both. If he'd tried that out in the tunnels he wouldn't have stood a chance.

"John, we have to get dressed, Savannah is here"

"I know…"

He didn't finish his sentence, instead he chose to kiss her again, slower and sweeter this time while his hands started to roam, as did his lips.

"Then we need to…I said we'd…John, we have to…no time to…ohhh John"

* * *

"Where's my little angel? There she is"

Amy looked up from Abigail in time to see John bounding over towards her with a huge 'I just got laid' grin on his face. He settled himself on the bed next to her and peered over in to her arms as Abigail contentedly suckled on her morning bottle.

"Yeah, she's right here"

John reached over and tickled his daughters chin and started cooing at her. He seemed in an extraordinarily good mood and quite frankly it was creeping her out. Fortunately for her, she knew of a surefire way to snap him out of it.

"Sooo…who's Private Phillips?"

John immediately stopped his tickling and baby talk and went beet red. A forty one year old man shouldn't be getting embarrassed about much, but apparently the antics of last night were enough to make him feel like a horny seventeen year old again.

"You, you heard that?"

Amy nodded with the corner of her lips tugging upwards in to a small smirk.

"Mmmhmm. So, Private Phillips has been a bad girl has she?"

The full fledged grin on her face almost had John wanting to flee from the room. Instead he found himself smirking in reply as Abigail chose that moment to let out a tiny burp and started crying. Reaching over, he took his baby in his arms and started gently rubbing her back.

"Well, as long as Princess here didn't hear it that's fine by me…" John hesitated and scrunched his brow up for a moment "…Listen, don't mention it to her okay? I think she's a little embarrassed by it"

Surprisingly, Amy let out a sharp chuckle and shook her head.

"Wow, she's embarrassed? If she is, then it's no wonder it looks like your head's about to pop off. You're turning scarlet John…" her laughter and smiles faded and she looked at John in all seriousness "…I promise I won't mention it to her…doesn't mean I can't tease you about it, stud"

Amy deftly dodged a playful swipe from John's left hand and stuck her tongue out at him before prancing around the room singing a rhyme.

"John and Cameron sitting in a tree…"

"Amy…" John warned, trying not to smirk.

"…F.u.c.k.i.n.g. First comes love, then comes marriage…" for the end of her song, she placed her hands on her knees, leaned over and looked sidelong at John "…then comes Cameron begging to be spanked"

Before John had time to close his gaping mouth, let alone react with anything meaningful, as if on cue, Cameron burst in to the room unceremoniously. Just in time to see Amy straightening up and John's jaw flapping around like a fish out of water. She wasted no time in stomping over to John and wordlessly taking Abigail from his arms. As usual, she immediately stopped crying as soon as she felt the presence of her mother. Cameron set about hurriedly making her baby more presentable, pausing only to close John's mouth and pull him up to stand by the scruff of his neck. She even went so far as to drag Amy to stand in front of them despite her protests.

"Cameron, wha…what's going on? We getting a visit from the Pope or something?" John inquired, completely bemused by her behaviour.

"Amy, smarten yourself up" Cameron ignored her husband and barked the order at Amy.

"Why?" Amy asked, tilting her head backwards to look up at Cameron.

"Just do it"

Amy huffed unhappily and looked straight ahead. Her entire body reverted to it's liquid metal state before re-solidifying. Gone was her unusually drab looking fatigues, replaced by a pretty pink dress. Her hair shifted from pigtails to being allowed to flow down her back. All in all, she'd done a marvellous job of smartening herself up. Unfortunately for Cameron, both herself and John still had that unkempt, post-morning quickie look about them. Even Abigail who had a small dribble of milk down her chin looked better than they did. Cameron wiped her chin with her sleeve just in time to look up and see a very nervous Savannah entering the room, closely followed by John Henry.

John subconsciously gripped the back of Cameron's jacket at the sight of the machine that hunted him so long ago. He knew it wasn't in fact Cromartie, but seeing the face that haunted his nightmares for so long made him automatically reach for his safety net in the form of Cameron. Her responding in kind and snaking her arm around his waist actually completed the picture perfect family image she was trying to project for some reason. She made him feel like an eight year old posing for a family photo.

The sight of Savannah entering the room also reminded him of an eight year old. Although she had now grown in to a beautiful woman, the way she shyly poked her head in the room and was ushered inside by John Henry reminded him of the little girl who's shoelaces he'd once tied. Quite clearly out of her comfort zone of being surrounded by machines, Savannah looked nervous at being separated from her bodyguards which security policies dictated must remain outside the base at all times.

However the bright smile on Cameron's face seemed to ebb away at her trepidation and she soon came in to the room fully to greet her friend. Cameron stepped forward and embraced Savannah as best she could with Abi in her arms who peered up at the stranger with her fingers in her mouth.

"Hi…" Savannah greeted shyly "…and who do we have here?"

Abigail gurgled in reply and kicked her legs a little. Savannah chuckled and looked up to find John and Amy patiently waiting to greet their guest. She quickly bounded over to John and threw her arms around his neck playfully.

"Hi John" she squealed.

_What was I saying about an eight year old?_

After almost strangling John she sent a curt nod in Amy's direction before returning over to Cameron.

"May I?"

She held her arms out towards Abigail and Cameron, despite her long friendship with Savannah still almost imperceptibly flinched away from her outstretched arms. Eventually she controlled her initial reaction and smiled.

"Of course"

She carefully handed Abi over to Savannah's waiting arms and watched her every move like a hawk. She did NOT like it when other people touched her baby.

While all this was going on, John sidled up to John Henry and followed his gaze to where Savannah currently stood baby talking to Abi and giggling whenever she smiled for her. John Henry seemed confused by the whole ordeal, but there was definitely a hint of happiness on his face at the sight of Savannah smiling and laughing.

"Savannah seems enamoured with your daughter, why is that? She isn't her child" John Henry observed of his friend.

"I guess it's just built in to all women. They go all mushy brained around babies, doesn't matter whose they are, they love 'em"

John Henry seemed to take a moment to process the information before cautiously stepping forward and taking up a place behind and slightly to the side of Savannah. Tentatively he reached up and placed a flat palm on her back. She looked around and smiled at him in reply. Slowly, he reached out and placed his fingertip in Abi's tiny hand and watched it reflexively close around it and hang on tight.

"She's gorgeous Cameron" Savannah cooed.

"Thank you" came Cameron's sincere reply while she still intently watched every minute action in front of her.

"What do you think?" Savannah turned to ask John Henry.

"The child has a healthy grip"

He raised his hand a short distance and Abi clung on, even going so far as to whimper a little that her arm was being moved against her will. John Henry quickly lowered his hand again and allowed her to cling on to his finger.

Amy watched all their interactions, finding the whole sight surreal. Eventually she grew tired of Savannah's cooing and John Henry's logical observations and huffed a little.

_I put on a pretty dress and let my hair down for this? Nobody's even said hello to me, this sucks._

Unfortunately, her little huff had attracted the attention of everyone in the room who now stared at her in confusion as she stood twirling a few strands of hair around her finger.

"Yeah, I'll just go and, uh, head off for patrol, yeah"

She skirted around the edge of the room as every pair of eyes followed her exit. Surprisingly, it was John Henry who broke the silence.

"She certainly is an odd machine"

* * *

"Do we have eyes on Snake?"

"Negative"

Private Frank Jessop was starting to get worried about his partner. She'd been gone for the past twenty minutes investigating the building that had a sudden hive of Skynet activity around it. Nobody had seen this much enemy activity for months. Her inherent abilities and talents made her the perfect choice to infiltrate a place like this and find out what was going on. Deep down he knew she'd be okay, but he couldn't help but be concerned for Amy's safety.

"So whaddya think?" the guy lying down next to Jessop whispered in to his ear.

"I think she'll be alright" Jessop responded without thinking or considering the question.

"Uh, no. I meant what do you think this place is?"

Frank blushed several deeper shades of pink under his helmet and stumbled out a reply.

"Uh, I, uh, guess it's some sort of, uh, lab, or something"

His buddy looked sidelong at him as if he'd grown two heads.

"Yeah…something like that"

"Awww, you were worried about me?"

A sudden voice from behind had them both jumping and almost half the platoon springing to action and pointing their rifles at a very unaffected looking Amy.

"Dammit half pint. Make a fucking noise next time" Captain Wallace growled irritatedly.

"Sure thing Cap'n" Amy snapped off a half hearted mock salute while smiling sweetly, only serving to send his grumbling an octave lower.

"What have you found?"

"The jackpot"

* * *

"Yeah come on, I'll go with you"

After an hour or so of Savannah ogling Abigail, she declared she was hungry and that 'it had been a long trip'.

John had took it upon himself to escort her to the mess hall for a late night snack, leaving Cameron to try and pry Abi's vice like grip from the end of John Henry's finger and meeting with unhappy shrieks in trying to do so.

The pair had made their way through the base to the mess hall to suspicious looks and hushed whispers at the sight of Savannah Weaver, the leader of the machine resistance being escorted by John Connor, leader of the human resistance.

They reached the door to the mess hall when a flustered tech in a white lab coat came bumbling up to John, performing a half hearted civilian style salute before launching in to a tirade about how he couldn't get the supplies he needed to make something work correctly.

"I'll join you in a moment Savannah. Please, help yourself"

He pushed the hatch open for her before listening impatiently to the tech as he rambled about things that even John Connor didn't understand. Savannah meanwhile carefully made her way in to the mess hall. It was mostly empty aside from a group of four men huddled around a table at the far side of the room.

Lowering her head to avoid any unwanted attention, she made her way over to what passed as the buffet table and picked up a plate. She filled it with various and random items that passed as food. By no means was it the comparatively lavish meals she had prepared for her every day in her own base, but it was nice to have variety she thought. Being the only human in an entire army had it's advantages, an abundance of rations and foodstuffs being one of them.

Taking a seat at a nearby table, she picked at what she assumed was a rat burger while waiting for John to re-appear.

_Hmm, not bad._

She raised her head and chanced a look up at the men crowding around the other table. She couldn't quite make out their faces due to the relatively dark room, but she detected the distinct smell of alcohol and the sound of slurred words emanating from them. Tucking her head away again, she resumed her meal and thought about how cute Abi was and how lucky Cameron was to finally be a mommy. Not that she'd ever really wanted kids, or had many sexual partners for that matter, but she had to admit, she was feeling slightly jealous of Cameron and her perfect little family.

She'd just about raised her fork halfway to her mouth when a gruff voice from the other table stole her attention and caused her to freeze mid bite.

_I know that voice_.

"Well, well, would you look who it, hic, is"

She recognised the distinct voice of Sergeant Bent and sucked in a sharp breath when he abruptly stood up, his chair screeching loudly against the concrete floor. She ignored his initial outburst, only to find him suddenly looming over her.

"Whatchoo, doin' here?"

He asked, right in her face, breathing the scent of whisky all over her. Evidently, Bent and his squad were drinking to the memory of their downed comrade with a bottle of pre Judgement Day Scotch.

"I, I'm eating"

Bent sneered as his friends all stood up from their chairs and unsteadily made their way over to join him.

"Ish shat so? You know, you…you sit in your palace, hic, like a princess. Wha, what make you shink you can come down here and eat our…burgers?"

"I…" she didn't get a chance to finish as she was cut off by Bent as he now hunched over her table and pointed a stubby, accusing finger in her face.

"Hansen ish dead, you know that? Of courshe you don't, you don't care about us. You love your damn machines, but you don' give a, hic, about hu, hu, humans"

Savannah felt her blood start to boil at this drunk who continued to prod perilously close to her nose with his grubby finger.

"Come on Bent, she's not worth it, leave the metal lover to her food"

Captain Harris tried to tug the much larger man away by his arm, however he resisted, probably for the first time since the pair had met.

"Hansen is dead 'cos of you…" this time he prodded Savannah square in her forehead "…Our mission wath because of you. He's dead, and it's on you"

Just at that moment, John walked in to find Sergeant Bent looming over Savannah with his friends trying to restrain him, but more surprisingly Savannah looked like she was on the verge of either crying or swinging for him. He strode purposefully over to the sight of the squabble and grabbed Bent by his shoulder and dragged him backwards.

Bent pulled his fist back, ready to knock a head of the shoulders of the guy who would dare to lay a hand on him. When he saw it was General Connor, even he had the good sense to lower his fist.

"What's going on here Sergeant?"

"Nothing sir" he did his best to stand up straight in front of his General.

"It didn't look like nothing, Bent"

"Wiff all due respec sir. I was merely stating the fact that this bish is responible for Hansen being dead"

That was the last straw for Savannah. Being prodded by a drunk, who probably had a fairly decent point, she could handle. Being called a metal lover, she could handle. However being called a bitch she could never cope with for some reason and she snapped, hurling herself at Sergeant Bent once again.

John did his best to get in between them and held back Savannah while Gordon, Harris and Lee struggled to hold back the tank of a man.

"Look, the bish has some fight in her boys. Go ahead, hit me you fucking robo-whore"

John tightened his grip around Savannah's waist as she wildly thrashed in Bent's direction.

"Let go of me John" she screamed in his ear.

Before Bent had a chance to reply, he felt a small, slender hand work it's way around his neck and start to squeeze. The next thing he knew, there was a sharp pain at the back of his head and his windpipe was closed. He opened his eyes to find himself looking at the ceiling with Cameron looming over him with her 'don't fuck with me' glare in place. He knew struggling would be pointless, but unfortunately for him his drunken brain hadn't caught on to the fact as he hopelessly grabbed at her wrist, trying to prise her grip free. Cameron merely tilted her head before looking up at the other members of her precious team who seemed to be frozen in shock at their CO's actions.

"You three, leave…" her voice was as calm and commanding as ever "…John, get Savannah out of here"

John turned around to face Savannah who had also stopped struggling in the wake of Cameron's actions. He guided her shellshocked figure over to sit at the table and to the exact seat Bent had vacated moments earlier. She swiped the bottle of whisky of the table and took a long chug, wincing at the harsh taste.

Cameron meanwhile hadn't released her grip in the slightest. She detected that Bent was about to lose consciousness and looked down at him before loosening her grip just enough to allow him to suck in a laboured breath of air.

"You need to listen to me very carefully Sergeant…" at his attempt at a nod she continued "…you have caused me more trouble with your mouth than you have helped our cause. It stops, now. You will no longer speak out of turn. You will no longer take it upon yourself to improvise. You will follow my orders to the letter. You will not threaten any of my friends ever again. Am I understood?"

She released her grip enough to allow him to speak.

"Y, yes, m, ma'am" he managed to choke out.

Cameron released him fully and surprisingly helped her subordinate to stand. She placed her hand back on his neck again, this time with a feather light touch to examine him.

"You have a bruised tracheae, it will take several days to heal fully. I suggest you use this time to practise not speaking…"

At his confused look, she continued.

"…Hansen was my friend too. But that woman over there…" she gestured to Savannah "…is not responsible for his death. If you need to blame someone, then blame me. I was his CO, his safety was my responsibility"

Bent didn't speak, but merely nodded and stood to attention. He snapped off a salute and held the position until she returned it. When he turned to leave the room, Cameron called after him.

"You're on CPU scrubbing duty for two weeks. Don't let me down again Sergeant"

Bent didn't even pause, he merely continued his course out of the door.

Cameron turned and walked over to where John sat with a still shellshocked Savannah who clutched the whisky tight in her hand. Gingerly, she laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Savannah nodded and took another swig out of her bottle.

"You and John Henry are welcome to spend the night here"

With that, she removed her hand from her friends shoulder and looked at John who stood with her. The couple made their way towards the door where John Henry, who had observed the entire scene, stood with a sleeping Abigail held out at arms length. John took her from his arms and carefully shifted her on to one arm and laced the fingers on his other hand through Cameron's. They left the room, leaving Savannah and John Henry alone.

John Henry took a moment to survey the scene before slowly and silently walking over to Savannah. When he reached her, instead of interacting with her, he merely moved around to the other side of the table, his eyes never leaving her as he slid out a chair opposite her and sat down. He laced his hands together and placed them on the table and watched as she took another swig and avoided his gaze.

* * *

**Dammit, these chapters are getting longer! Sorry for the delay in releasing this. I was working on my M-rated one shot of John and Cameron's anniversary night but kinda got bogged down with it. Don't worry, it will be finished and released, probably after this 12 chapter story is complete and before I start work on part 3 of my main story (which I have some awesome ideas for). **

**Huge thanks go to Dekardkain for helping me with a couple of parenthood faux pa's in this chapter! If you haven't read his story 'Becoming John Connor', then, dude, go read it, like now!**


	10. Chapter 9 Decisions

**Hi,**

**Thanks to reviewers J0hn_Henry, uncommoner, Nyrki, meanoldmoe, ljm, CloudyShadows, Steel_Dragon_64, olischulu, gypsy069, kaotic2, XxDeathStarxX and Dragon_Seraphin.

* * *

**

Savannah had lost track of the point where she stopped being able to taste the whisky she was swilling down her throat, and quite frankly, she didn't care. Her spat with Sergeant Bent had really hit home with her. He accused her of being responsible for his friend's death, and while not exactly true, she still felt guilty for not even caring. Was she really so out of touch with her own species that she'd lost all semblance of any humanity she once had? While she treasured the few human friends she had, namely John Connor and James Ellison, she always felt much worse upon hearing that one of the machines under her command had come to its end.

Savannah had the distinction of being one of the few humans in existence who didn't fear seeing a bare machine endoskeleton, in fact she actually quite liked them. She liked the way the light reflected off of their bones, and she especially liked the way that even though they were all physically identical she could tell each of them apart by their many small quirks and behaviour. Whether it was the dent in Hank's head, or the particular shade of red that Charlie's eyes glowed, she wasn't afraid to admit that she adored her machine friends, particularly John Henry and Cameron.

Despite all that, Sergeant Bent's comments bothered her.

"Go ahead, say it" she slurred her words slightly due to the effects of the decades old whisky.

"You're upset" John Henry observed from his seat opposite her.

"No shit" she took another shaky swig from the now almost empty bottle.

John Henry examined his friend with a mixture of concern and confusion on his face. He'd rarely seen her like this before, she was usually bright and bubbly to the extent it was often annoying, even to him. He also never liked it when she drank. She didn't do it often, but when she did she had a tendency to become moody and generally unpleasant. Today didn't seem to be any exception. He chanced what he knew to be the correct phrase in this situation.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"Yes, no, I dunno"

She folded her arms on the table and placed her head on them and stared at the ground. For a long few minutes, John Henry merely watched her, ensuring she didn't drop off to sleep and fall off the chair. Eventually, she raised her head and looked at him with slightly glistening eyes.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"You seem to be healthy, I detect no signs of ill health Savannah. You are a healthy human female of breeding age"

Savannah scoffed and shook her head at his appraisal and lack of understanding of her question.

"Yeah, human, really? As for breeding age, as if any guy would get with the 'queen of the machines'. I hate humans, humans hate me"

A single tear spilled down her cheek as she looked at John Henry with pleading, desperate eyes. He observed her behaviour and listened to her statement and one thing stood out for him.

"Why would a human male not want to copulate with you?"

"Oh come on John Henry, you heard that guy. I'm not a human in their eyes, hell, even Cameron is kinda accepted around here, she even has her own baby to raise. What the hell do I have? Twenty bodyguards at all times and every one of them a machine…"

After a brief hesitation, she looked away from John Henry.

"…I'm not human any more"

John Henry tilted his head in a manner reminiscent of Cameron. Surprisingly though, his face contorted in to a frown.

"Savannah, you are the most human person I know. Even though you are surrounded by machines, you still maintain your humanity that very few machines have been able to replicate. You pointed out Cameron, even she struggles with certain aspects of humanity sometimes, and Amy is outright odd…" he considered for a moment how best to sum up his meaning and cheer her up "…Your mother would be proud of you"

Instead of saying something like he expected, Savannah slowly raised her head and peered at John Henry from behind long lashes. Wordlessly, she stood and unsteadily walked to the opposite side of the table. John Henry watched confused as she straddled his lap and clasped her hands behind his neck. She looked down and grabbed hold of his hands and placed them on her waist and slid closer to him.

"Savannah…"

He didn't get a chance to finish his thoughts as he was silenced by her lips crashing in to his. He found the sensations to be…interesting, despite his confusion at her actions. She'd kissed him before, usually on the cheek, but this was very different. This was desperate, intimate…and a little sloppy.

"Shut up and kiss me" she mumbled against his lips.

She cupped his face in her hands and ground her hips as she continued to kiss him. She had no idea why she was doing this. It probably stemmed from seeing Cameron's baby and from being upset by Sergeant Bent. She was emotional, broody and just wanted to be loved. Her whisky fuelled mind came to the conclusion that John Henry was the obvious choice for this purpose. Who better than the man that had looked after her and loved her for so long. She sloppily kissed her way down his neck while she continued to slide up and down his legs and licked and sucked her way back up to his lips.

She was so busy trying to focus on what she was doing that she failed to notice that John Henry wasn't following her instructions and had remained motionless since she'd first touched him. Savannah moved her hands down from his face and ran them down the length of his chest, feeling the faux muscles underneath his shirt until she reached the waistband of his pants. As soon as she started to fumble with his belt, she felt a pair of strong hands circle her wrists and stop her movement.

"Savannah, stop" John Henry said gently but firmly.

For the first time since she started, Savannah pulled back and looked at her friend and his innocent expression. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming sadness, and she didn't know why. Her eyes began to well up with tears as she looked at John Henry. All of her movement stopped and her brain had trouble keeping up with what was going on. She was trying to have sex with her best friend.

_What the hell are you doing Savannah? Are you so desperate for a lay that you'll try it on with John Henry?_

Suddenly she felt disgusted with herself. Not because John Henry was a machine, but because he was her friend and had been like a father to her since her mother was taken from her.

Fighting down the sudden urge to wretch, she instead chose to throw her arms around his neck and sobbed in to his shoulder.

"I'm…so…sorry…J…John…Henry" she managed to choke out between sobs.

For his part, John Henry was used to this behaviour and knew what to do. He encircled her small frame with his arms and gave her a gentle squeeze before rubbing her back comfortingly with one hand.

"It's okay Savannah. It'll be alright"

John Henry had always had the most profound influence over Savannah. Even to this day he had the knack of saying the absolute correct thing to her. After several moments like of rubbing her back and simply holding her, he felt her body slump against his and a soft snore near his left ear.

Smiling to himself, he lowered one arm underneath her backside and used the other to hold her top half close to him. Effortlessly, he hoisted her up in to the air and held her close. On the rare occasion when Savannah did choose to come and see Cameron, there were always quarters set aside for her, somewhere John Henry knew she'd be safe while she slept. Carefully picking his way through the base and ignoring the odd looks he was receiving from the its inhabitants, he made his way to said quarters. He opened the door quietly and entered the room. He walked over to the cot in the centre of the room and gently lay Savannah down and detached her arms from around his neck. Standing up again, he went back to the door and locked it before returning to Savannah's side.

He crouched down next to her and reached out to tuck a few errant strands of hair behind her ear. She shifted in her sleep and leaned in to his touch subconsciously, bringing a smile to his face. He stood up silently and walked to the bottom of the bed. He stood facing the door and resolved to stand guard over her for the night. He wasn't a combat model, but in the absence of her bodyguards he was going to make sure that no harm came to her tonight.

* * *

If the forces of the human resistance could see John Connor right now, they'd probably all think the same thing, 'this guy's in charge?'

The same could be said for Skynet, who would probably just laugh.

There he lay, on his side, on his bed, the bed he shared with his wife, but at this moment he shared it with his wife and daughter. Abigail had fallen asleep on Cameron's chest with her head finely balanced between her breasts and Cameron's hands holding her in place. Cameron also had gone in to standby as part of her three day recharge cycle. She'd locked the servo's in her hands to prevent herself from crushing Abi and also to stop her from slipping off her chest.

Cameron didn't know this, but John always stayed awake on the rare occasion when she did have to go in to standby. He saw it as his duty as a husband to watch over her, but mostly he just enjoyed the peace and quiet and being able to simply admire her as she slept peacefully. If she ever found out he did this, she'd probably threaten to run the risk of degrading her systems by refusing to enter standby until he got some sleep. Which is why to this day he still closed his eyes when she lay down and opened them again when he heard the faint whirring sound she always emitted when powering up or down.

Over the years she'd tweaked the sensory inputs that would wake her up to include any noise over seventy decibels, John's voice telling her to wake up, and lately to anything above a whimper made by Abigail. In short, anything other than a triple eight breaking down the door would fail to rouse her. So here John lay with his hand idly tracing circles on her bare stomach under the sheets. He marvelled how her skin felt just as soft and smooth as the day he'd first touched her intimately, despite his calloused and scarred hands.

Today however, he was joined in his quiet observations by his daughter as she lay on her back on her mommy's chest with her mouth hanging open and drooling a little. He smiled and watched as the two favourite ladies in his life happily slumbered. He took the opportunity to let his mind wander. He thought about what Abi would be like when she grows up, what she'd look like and what sort of daddy he was going to be. Hell, he even wondered what she'd be like when she became a teenager.

Pushing that train of thought far down with a shiver, he focused on his wife. His wife who almost died a few days ago. What was usually quite a pleasant time for John suddenly turned sombre for him. It was the first time since they'd adopted Abigail that either of them had been in any real danger, and that thought scared John. He was the one who was initially sceptical about adopting her for this very reason, they live dangerous lives in dangerous times and it wouldn't be fair to Abi if either one of them died.

Letting his eyes drift closed for a moment, John broke his personal rule and allowed himself to let his guard down when Cameron was vulnerable. At almost the exact instant he felt sleep starting to overcome him, his eyes snapped back open to the sounds of screaming and gunfire from out in the tunnels. He sprung up out of bed and grabbed his rifle, not caring in the slightest that he was totally naked.

"Cameron, wake up"

_Fifteen seconds, she needs fifteen seconds to reboot._

John knew he should have been heading out of the room already to join in the fight against whatever was out there, but when Abigail woke up and started to cry, all he could think of was that she needed protecting. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, John scooped her up in to his arms and shook Cameron.

_It's been more than fifteen seconds, wake up dammit._

John continued to frantically shake Cameron's lifeless body while trying to shush Abigail and keeping his eyes peeled on the door.

"Cameron, this isn't funny, wake up dammit"

Still nothing. Pushing back her thick brown hair, John did his best to inspect her chip port with one hand while Abi continued to squirm in his other arm. The sounds of screaming became louder, and soon John heard the loud 'thud, thud' of heavy mechanical footsteps approaching.

"Hey, hey, shhhh, it's okay…" he gently bounced Abi in his arm while she whimpered and tears streamed from her eyes "…Cameron, wake up…please"

John swivelled his head and body around to face the door when something crashed in to it, leaving a large dent, and then another, and another. It wouldn't be long now until the machine on the other side forced it's way in and threatened his family, he had to take action, he had to get them out of the firing line and behind cover. Placing Abi down gently on the bed to loud cries of protest, he grabbed Cameron by her hands and tugged for all he was worth…but she wouldn't budge. It didn't make sense, despite her weight he was always able to move her when he needed. He tugged and pulled with all his might and barely moved her an inch. The loud clangs on the heavy metal door came closer together now and John grew more and more frantic. Searching around the room, his eyes locked on the closet.

Scooping a sobbing Abigail up, he quickly made his way over to the closet and opened the door.

"I'm sorry baby, but you'll be safe in here"

He placed her in the bottom of the closet, ensuring that she'd be safe and wouldn't get hurt, closed the door and moved back to the bed, just in time for a triple eight to burst in to the room in all it's metallic endoskeletal glory and catch him midway between his wife and his daughter. He didn't have time to raise his rifle and watched on in horror as the machine raised it's weapon and aimed it squarely at his head. However, as if reconsidering it's decision, the machine hesitated. John's terror increased as the machine first adjusted it's aim to Cameron's still unmoving body on the bed. But again before firing, the machine paused and actually looked squarely at John this time. With a small tilt of it's head, reminiscent of Cameron, it adjusted it's aim towards the small whimpering noise coming from the closet. Before John had a split second to react, the machine fired.

John awoke with a start with his eyes wide and quickly flitting around the room, unable to focus on any one thing. A soft and gentle voice stole his attention.

"John…it's okay"

His eyes focused on the source of the noise and he found Cameron sitting up in bed with a hand on his chest and a concerned look on her face. Even a propped up Abigail looked at him worriedly. John's head slumped back on to the pillow and he took a deep breath to try and calm his racing mind and body.

_It was just a nightmare._

Bringing a hand up to wipe his soaking brow, he turned towards Cameron and gave her a grateful smile.

"I'm okay, and so are you two"

Cameron tilted her head and picked up Abi and held her facing him.

"Of course we are, we've got you to look after us"

_Oh if only you knew._

John let out a short laugh and reached out to take Abigail from her. He settled her down on his chest before grabbing Cameron's hand and tugging her down to place her head on his chest too.

"Yeah, you're right"

He hoped he sounded more confident than he actually felt.

* * *

"What? What does 'the jackpot' actually mean Amy?"

Amy fixed John with her patented 'don't be an ass' stare. Normally nobody looked at the General like that, but he made an exception for certain individuals, particularly ones that actually had the balls to call him out on it when he was being an ass. John had gathered all of his Generals in a room with Cameron and himself when Amy had arrived back and came bouncing in to his quarters with a huge grin on her face and kept on repeating 'jackpot baby'. His Generals being Charley Dixon, James Ellison and Derek Reese.

"John, if you'd let me finish"

"Amy, you haven't even started yet" an exasperated John pointed out.

"Well then, let me start"

John waved his arm in an after you gesture and smiled while shaking his head.

"We were out on patrol and we found it John…we found it"

Clearly confused, John shook his head and shrugged.

"Found what?"

"Would you let me finish?" Amy snapped with her tiny hands on her hips.

John couldn't take it any more and he let his head slump on to the desk. Almost immediately he felt Cameron's nimble fingers glide over the back of his neck reassuringly.

"Amy. What. Have. You. Found?"

"Are you slow, I already told you"

"No, you didn't" Cameron leapt to her husband's defence this time and smiled sympathetically at Amy.

"Oh, haven't I? Sorry" Amy smiled sheepishly and took a seat at the table.

_Damn messed up chip._

John raised his head up off the table and looked at a suddenly upset looking Amy.

"Amy, it's okay. Now, tell us what you've found"

"I've found the last Skynet hub" she said sadly, a lot of the bluster taken out of her mood.

"You, you've what? How? Where?"

John could hardly contain himself so much that he actually physically bounced in his chair with excitement. If this was true, the resistance could now wipe out nearly all of the remaining remnants of Skynet's communication network. Before Judgement Day, Skynet was dependant on the millions of networked computers around the globe to function. However after the bombs dropped, your average home PC became little more than something humans could use to hurl at each other. In order to maintain communications and control over it's units, Skynet had ordered the construction of hundreds of communication relay hubs around the world. These hubs were very well guarded and vital to Skynet's continued dominance over the human population. That was until the first one went down through sheer luck on the West Coast of Australia. Apparently some of the local wildlife had worked it's way down in to the core processing unit and had disabled it, forcing the local Skynet units in to disarray and allowed for the capture of hundreds of enemy machines for reprogramming. Those forces spread out and attacked more of these hubs, creating chaos on the continent. Eventually the sheer number of human allied machines were used to overwhelm defences of other hubs until there were but a handful left. Although John did find it odd that one had managed to pop up in downtown L.A. He couldn't help but be excited about the prospect of putting another nail in Skynet's coffin, especially after his nightmare this morning that he sincerely hoped wasn't prophetic.

"We found it out on patrol. John, it's going to take a lot to get in there, you won't be able to half ass this one"

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, I was in there for the best part of a half hour. It may not look like much up top, but underground it's like a maze"

John took a moment to consider his options with his elbows propped up on the table and his chin on his hands. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, unfortunately he saw only the remnants of last night's nightmare on the inside of his eyelids.

"Okay, we'll send in the Third Battalion, and Silver Company will lead the way"

The unanimous nods around the table seemed satisfied with his decision and stood to end the meeting.

"I'll lead them personally"

At John's statement, every head in the room swivelled in his direction. He was immediately bombarded with arguments from everyone in the room besides Cameron and Amy. Charley told him it was too dangerous, Ellison told him to let his men take care of it, Derek told him he was too important to risk. Amy sat quietly, as did Cameron rather surprisingly. Of all the people in the room, John expected her to put up the biggest argument, however when she remained quiet, he took that a sign that she approved of his plan. Easily ignoring his Generals, John stood and pushed his chest out with an air of authority.

"Send word for the battalion to assemble and activate Silver Company. We leave when they're ready"

The finality in his voice left no room for argument and the three men filed out of the room, followed by a slightly awestruck looking Amy. Cameron however still remained seated and silent, staring at him as he slowly paced back and forth.

"What?" John asked, as if expecting her to say something.

"I don't know what to do"

_Wow, I wasn't expecting that._

As if on cue, the baby monitor system standing on the table crackled to life as Abigail cried in her nursery. Wordlessly, Cameron stood and left the room and John quickly followed, struggling to match her brisk pace and deft movements. By the time John had reached the nursery, Cameron had already scooped her baby up in to her arms and was gently bouncing and shushing her. She turned around when John entered and fixed him with a worried look.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He sidled up next to her and placed a hand on Abi's back and rubbed in small circles while matching Cameron's concerned look.

"We can't bring her with us"

"What? Who?" quite clearly with no clue what she meant, John placed his other hand on his wife's back and matched his other hand's movements.

"Abigail won't be safe when we attack the hub"

"We?" John asked incredulously.

"Yes, if you're going, then I must go with you, to keep you safe" Cameron reasoned.

"Cameron, I'll have over a thousand men and machines to watch my back. I think I'll be okay without you for a little while…" he glanced down at Abigail who stared at her mother and drooled on her shoulder "…besides, she needs you more"

Cameron looked at Abi and couldn't help but smile a little. She wanted to stay with her daughter, but she had an overwhelming feeling that something wasn't right about all of this. The last time she felt like this was the time Hansen died on her last intel mission to Savannah's base. She couldn't risk that happening to John.

"No, I'll go with you. Remember the promise you made to us…to me? You promised that we'd both come home to her. I need to know you're going to be safe out there…I need to be with you"

After the longest moment, John nodded slowly. While he didn't want her to come, he knew that once his wife's mind was made up then there would be no changing it.

"Okay…we'll leave Abi with Amy, she'll be alright…"

He ran a finger through his baby girl's fine hair and looked up at Cameron and spoke with an unsteady voice.

"…she'll be alright"

* * *

**Ok, so the story is picking up pace and will be done in 3 more chapters plus an epilogue. Just to let you all know, I have started work on the still untitled part 3 of my main story and the sequel to 'I wouldn't Be Worth Much If I Couldn't Feel'.**


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